


The Wound Is Where The Light Shines Through

by MrAwesomeMatty



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Attempt at Humor, Bad Flirting, Drinking, Dysfunctional Family, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gaming, I don't really know much about science so bear with me, Insomnia, Inspired by Real Events, M/M, OoC at times, Out of Character, Past Character Death, Self-Worth, Self-Worth Issues, Soda Addiction, Some Plot, Swearing, Team as Family, Teenager Groot, Vaping, What-If, Yondu Udonta Lives
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2018-12-17 15:50:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 65,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11854788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrAwesomeMatty/pseuds/MrAwesomeMatty
Summary: For the Guardians of the Galaxy, everything was going pretty great! After all, they saved the galaxy twice in a row; that oughta boost up their prices for sure!So when Nova Prime calls them up to guard a scientist who's researching some ancient technology for them on Xandar, as well as offering a huge price for it, how the hell would they refuse?But what they weren't expecting was said scientist to be a rather big, scruffy, yet young-looking Terran who's wearing casual, worn-out clothing including sandals, has the same taste in music as Quill, and is currently downing some kind of a beverage in this weird blue can that says "Pepsi"... whatever the hell that means.(An AU idea where Yondu lives, and he, Kraglin, and Nebula join the GOTG; title based off the song from Switchfoot)





	1. A different ending leads to a new beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... hey.... trying out a GOTG fanfic; fantastic~
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy it.

“He may be your father, boy, but he wasn’t your daddy.”

The words rang through the very core of Quill when he heard these words. Everything around him just became cold and quiet, as if his entire sense of hearing was completely shattered beyond repair. His eyes also became strictly tunnel vision as well, unable to focus on anything.

Forget the giant explosion of a planet that was once the man that was supposed to be his long-lost David Hasselhoff.

Forget the fact that he was now suddenly in space out of nowhere without his mask and only with one space suit available.

Forget the fact that said David Hasselhoff was the reason his mother ended up dying and why his walkman and tape she gave him was bro-

...Well, maybe that was something which he still had in the back of his head.

There was only one thing that mattered more right now than being betrayed by the freaking failure of a now dead father.

The fact that the man that he now realized was his true father was dying of suffocation in space.

Maybe this man was a big piece of shit at times. Maybe this was the same man who abducted him from his home after his mom just passed away. Maybe he, along with the Ravagers, had threatened to eat him multiple times throughout the course of his life. And maybe he had been a bit of an asshole at times.

But right now…

He was dying. His body was going cold at a too fast speed and he couldn’t do a damn thing to stop it. That idiot slapped the only space suit between the two of them onto his body and he couldn’t get the damn thing off to give it to him. Of all the fucking times to lose his mask-

It was only until he felt something really cold down the sides of his face that he realized that he was full-blown wailing and screaming and it was tears. His hands gripped at the edges of his jacket when his body began to float away from him.

“NOOOO!! NO… Please, no….”

“QUILL!!”

The sudden shout caused the Terran to whirl his head towards the right.

A small, yet furry creature was traveling towards them with a huge burst of fire propulsion behind-

Rocket?

And what’s that in his h-

Suddenly, Quill’s eyes widened so much that you could’ve tapped the back of his head and his eyeballs would’ve fallen out. With a huge heave, he gripped the sleeve of the man who he wanted to live and tossed him towards the smaller Guardian as hard as he could.

“ROCKET!! HURRY!!”

His voice cracked with desperation as he was left floating by himself. The form of the dying Centurion came limply, yet suddenly speeding towards Rocket. With a well timed motion, he latched onto his chest and slammed the device as hard as he could onto him. Immediately, the tiny blue grid of protection from the empty vacuum of space.

Despite having him in the space suit, the furry hands immediately raced up to lift Yondu’s face up. He wasn’t moving, but immediately the damage that was starting to show up on his skin seemed to begin to disappear. But it wasn’t enough.

“Come on, you blue bastard,” he hissed with a growl, “Friggin' breathe!!”

With a well timed smash of his fist into the opposite side of the chest where the device wasn’t, it was just enough force to jerk the man awake.

Suddenly, an ungodly and horrifying gasp that was befitting of a dead person came forth from the taller figure. It seemed appropriate considering said person was nearly dead, in all honesty. The huge intake of air was enough to jerk the consciousness and life back into the figure as he suddenly leaned over, clutching around his neck and abdomen, and began coughing bloody murder. His throat was barren and stone-dead dry; not even a few attempts to swallow whatever saliva that wasn’t dried up in his mouth was able to make it any better. But with a few more seconds of clearing his throat and taking a second to just… finally…

Breathe.

Straightening his form out, it was the cue for Rocket to let go. But damned if he was moving any further away at this point. His eyes glanced up into the tired and broken face of the person he and Quill just saved.

Yondu was alive.

Finally taking well-needed and long breaths, the Centurion’s eyes drifted over towards one of the people who was responsible for keeping him alive. It was hard with the frostbite and burns he was feeling over his body, but he still managed to keep it consistently a look. He swore, it was only like five seconds tops where he didn’t have air once he blacked out, but it still hurt like a motherfucker.

“...What the hell were you thinkin’...?”

The voice came out as gruff at face value, but the tone and emotion deep into those words. It was like a fear being released, a bit of a gratefulness weaved into the fabric of the initial description. An expression that made it even more unbearable was that within the broken attempt of acting angry, it looked like Yondu was touched and emotional that someone would come back to save him.

At the same time, that question had graced Rocket’s memory once it reached his ears. It was the same question that was fired at him in an angrier tone of voice when he forced them, Groot, and Kraglin to go through the horror of seven hundred jumps in order to get to Ego in time. But now… it was like heartfelt amazement.

Taking a few seconds to think of what he wanted to say, as well as choke back a few sobs and strain his eyes to prevent the threatening tears, Rocket lowered his ears and spoke quietly.

“...I know you said you haven’t done anything right your whole life and all that… but…” he said, looking away a bit before returning his focus onto him, “...That whole ‘empty that hole inside me’ thing you said back there? I… I think that’d just become even bigger if you just…”

At that last moment, Rocket’s voice ended up cracking and he grunted hard, instantly rubbing at his eyes harshly. Yondu’s face collapsed into a tired and emotional expression, a rare instance for such a hardened warrior of his caliber.

“Look, I… If you really wanna do something right with your life, then don’t just go out like this. Like Groot said, you’re a fuckin’ Guardian of the Galaxy now. You can fix what you’ve done by helping us, okay? Just… don’t die on us, got it?” Rocket said, a smile finally edging itself into his face, but with the tears finally appearing in his eyes.

Hearing those words started to make the man’s head nod in short motions over and over. Finally, the nod was visibly enough to signal he was in agreement. Taking another breath, which he was thankful for, he cleared his throat and visibly relaxed.

“HEY!! ROCKET!! He isn’t dead, right?? You saved him just in time!?”

Both turned slightly to see that the other person floating aimlessly in space with no way to move was staring with a scared expression crudely mixed with hope. That hope started to overtake him more and more as he realized that Yondu was moving normally, contrary to the horrific state of him that was happening only a while ago.

“You…. You son of a bitch!!” Quill screamed from far away, “Don’t you even freakin’ do that again! D-Do you hear me? You can’t do that, man!!”

The two from afar shared a look with each other. Normally, in any other circumstance, they’d either roll their eyes or laugh at how dramatically funny Star-Lord was being. Yet… in this moment, they felt how relieved and terrified he was at the moment. With a nod to each other, both made their way back to the Terran, who began to break down in tears. Rocket had stopped a little behind Yondu, but just enough to see everything.

“Y-You can’t just suddenly appear like that and then just… freaking sacrifice yourself like that! Not after I realized that you’re my… my David Hasselhoff, man!” the man’s voice tried to be strong, but ended up crumbling as he started to sob openly.

Gently holding the back of his head and bringing it close to his, Yondu grinned in a fashion where he struggled to not start bawling on him. Closing his eyes allowed him to ignore the rather pitiful sobfest of a Terran in front of him.

“...Hush up, boy,” he whispered, “I’m alive, ain’t I? That’s all that matters. No need to act soulful and dramatic about the whole damn thing…”

After he was let go, Quill furiously wiped at his eyes with his sleeves, and began to form the biggest grin he had in his entire life. So big to the point where it made Yondu crack a smile.

“...You realize we’re not letting you go, right? Like, you’re apart of the Guardians of the Galaxy now,” he said, his voice losing the cracked sobbing.

“Hell yeah, he is. Groot was the one who officially inducted him already, while you were hashing things out with your pathetic example of a ‘dad’,” Rocket said, jabbing his thumb at Yondu.

Quill scoffed at a part of his sentence.

“Tch… ‘hashing thi’-! Hey, wait a minute; since when did Groot suddenly have power to grant someone apart of our team? Isn’t that, you know, the Leader’s thing? Aka, me... Kinda?” he immediately was surprised to hear the little guy did such a thing and began to verify it.

“If you’re gonna say ‘kinda’, I think that proves that it ain’t official, Star-Munch,” Rocket grumbled aloud, rolling his eyes.

His vision was brought back to the man he just saved when he started to exhale in a way that meant laughter. Upon turning his head to him, Yondu had a big ol’ smirk on his face and proceeded to raise an eyebrow.

“Huh… ‘Star-Munch’... I like it, rat,” he complimented him.

Rocket immediately chuckled in response, the grin on his face being absolutely genuine. Besides the confusion of how he wasn’t ripping Yondu’s face off for being called a rat or how the two were acting strangely buddy-buddy, the sudden realization just dawned on Quill. Both Yondu and Rocket liked a moniker given to him.

One he LOATHED.

Gawddamn it.

Welp, they were going to get the mileage out of that one, weren’t they?

Keeping the groan of his low key so they didn’t know it bothered him, Quill tuned back into the conversation when he heard the smaller Guardian speak up.

“Hey, come on, already; we can get all sappy if you want back on the ship. For me, I’ve had enough shit today as it is,” he said, jabbing his thumb behind him.

Upon that motion, Quill’s entire being was swallowed up in shock, due to the fact that the Quadrant was suddenly approaching from behind them. The giant ship had taken a sustainable, but significant amount of damage. It had seemed like some kind of massive fire or explosion had wrecked it slightly. But overall, it was still going strong.

“The Quadrant? You actually got the rest of the Ravagers to help again?” he said with widened eyes.

Upon hearing a certain r-word, the other two floating in front of him had immediately changed emotions. Yondu’s face seemed to have taken a deep exhale and then hardened with anger, as if remembering something. Rocket, on the other hand, had chosen to look away slightly, with a posture that looked really uncomfortable with continuing on this train of discussion. Something was wrong, he knew it. But knowing the two of them, they’d most likely break the probable bad news to him. He endured the awkward silence before his voice kicked in.

“....What happened?”

Expecting the good mood to be ruined eventually, Yondu waved it off and gave him a more relaxed look, “You heard the rat, boy. Let’s at least get back to the ship before we do anything else.”

The man made a sigh of understanding and nodded in agreement. It was then that the furred Guardian softly took a hold of Yondu’s left wrist and then offered his other hand to Quill. He gave him his right hand in return. Now ahold of both floating men, the jetpack burst to life and propelled the trio towards the ship.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

“Nebula.”

The Luphomoid assassin came to a grinding halt upon hearing her name being spoken. Her jaw tightened slightly in response towards recognition of the person who had be born with it. The same person who had, at one time in her life, been ingrained into her entire being that it was their fault she suffered.

Gamora.

Hilarious, wasn’t it? Her entire life fostered a hatred beyond all boundaries for this Zehoberei who constantly humiliated her in combat and caused her adopted father to constantly dissect her into a perfect killing machine. She even aided that Ronan fool months ago in an attempt to destroy Xandar in a quest of revenge who was her enemy, and just tried to kill her again only a few hours ago with one of the Ravagers’ ships that she had received due to her assistance with the mutiny.

And despite that, the sisters had stopped their fight to just… talk.

To just talk.

And that talk had stopped them in time to realize the evil of Ego’s goals and just in time as well. Arriving to assist that Terran in destroying him and escaping the planet’s wrath. And now that everything had begin to settle, it was time to fulfill her plans.

But just as she was about to get to hangar part where a one-man ship was available for her… that is when this happened.

Her body turned towards her sister, with a tired form from their recent battle. The body language seemed to suggest that she was struggling with what to say for the next, with the pauses of her hand movements and her closing her eyes. But over a while now, she finally spoke up.

“...I was a little girl, trying to live day by day… not knowing or understanding what that meant to you,” Gamora said quietly, clearly putting her brain into careful mode on how she worded what she wanted to say to Nebula, “There are many girls out there, like us… You can stay with us, and help them.”

Upon hearing those words, the following phrase came to Nebula’s head.

‘I can help them by killing Thanos.’

The words fired from her brain like a gun having its trigger pulled. It danced on the tip of her tongue, ready for her to say it.

Yet… right at the most important part, she couldn’t.

She found herself unable to deny the offer.

It’s not that she didn’t want to turn it down. However, it was due to this weird feeling in her chest. A feeling that was deep down and making her feel cold. Something that she hadn’t felt before. Whatever it was, it had a iron grip on her, refusing to let her just come out and say no. Adding this onto the awkward silence that was beginning to grow in length after Gamora finished speaking, as well as not excluding that her eyes was searching for their answer by dancing around to gaze at Nebula’s face, and it had rendered the steel-resolve assassin speechless and internally battling for control.

It had dawned on said sister of hers that something was off. Blinking twice, Gamora had leaned in slightly.

“...Nebula?”

Hearing her name a second time made the assassin feel slightly embarrassed by the fact that it took her this long to respond. Her head looked away and with a deep breath, finally felt her voice come under her control.

“...It is unwise to have me on the Guardians; I took part on Ronan’s attack on Xandar,” she tried to say, looking her in the eyes finally, “Nova Prime would never accept me with all the destruction I aided.”

The point seemed solid in her eyes, but immediately she doubted that once Gamora replied almost instantly.

“Nebula, I’ve killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people for the sake of Thanos; you of all people know this fact. The majority of the Guardians, although their reasons may differ, have done the same. But we are changing. Redeeming ourselves by protecting those who aren’t strong enough to defend themselves. We may not be perfect, but we are moving down a path where we can become good people.”

The speech that was given rocked Nebula, though she didn’t visibly show it. She felt like it wasn’t possible for her…

And yet…

A part of her… wanted to try?

“Besides… you shouldn’t care whether or not Nova Prime, or any of the other Guardians for that matter, do not accept you. What matters is that… that… I have you, my sister, and a chance to be able to finally be what we’re meant to be to each other,” she said, stepping a bit closer to her.

Upon her finishing her sentence, the assassin stared directly at her. Closing her eyes, the option weighed down on her, beating and eventually….

Defeating her resistance.

“....I… I will stay. For now… until it is time to kill Thanos,” she said, nodding very carefully.

Hearing her words did not seem to brighten Gamora’s spirits, nor bring a happy smile onto her expression. What it did bring, however, was her arms to slowly lift and gently wrap around her sister’s body. The contact had indeed shocked Nebula more than she wanted to believe; never before was Gamora so gentle in touching her. The only physical contact she had ever been given by her sister was hard strikes that would cause her pain and suffering. But… to be treated like a sister…. To have a hug like she’s always….

Slowly and surely, Nebula’s arms raised up with a great hesitation and returned the gesture towards her. Both sisters stared off directly in front of them, contemplating how the future would continue now that they were no longer enemies….

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

“It’s beautiful.”

“It is. And so are you… on the inside.”

Quill could vaguely hear the small conversation coming from the side of him. It was Mantis, the young girl who had been rescued and taken with them off of that miserable and putrid place once known as his father and Drax, who currently was stroking the small and child-like Groot with a finger. The small plant had apparently decided to take a nap on his shoulder, and thus he was taking care of him.

Normally, this is the time the Terran would glance over at Drax for the offset and strange remarks he’d spew that the Destroyer would perceive as genuine, but came off as rather insulting. But at this moment… it was hard to do so.

Tullk. Oblo. A whole shit-ton of his Ravager crew…. No, his family… were dead. Apparently, there had been a mutiny not too long ago, according to Yondu. And literally half of the crew he grew up with had been airlocked during it. It made him shiver with dread; despite how they all had teased and threatened to eat him, he had ended up bonding together with them. Teasing them back, saving their asses during missions, being saved by them… and now they had become ice-cold corpses floating in the endless sea of space before they had managed to successfully gather each of their bodies. Sounds like something out of a haunted story.

And it kicked him in the gut hard about who was responsible. Taserface. That disgusting piece of garbage. Quill never liked him. Never saw eye to eye. He wasn’t one of those pieces of shit who was a coward; in fact, there were days where he actually saw eye to eye with Yondu, agreeing with his plans and wholeheartedly supported him. But apparently, those days were no longer important. Neither were the lives of what used to be his brethren.

Also, his name was pathetically stupid to the point where it hurt laughing.

At least, Yondu was able to get the son-of-a-bitch back as they got away.

It caused him to look over at the man he now considering his father. He stood there, with a tired, scarred, and beaten up look on his face, his right arm doing the Ravager salute. It pained Quill to see how horrendously damaged the skin was; it wasn’t life-threatening, but definitely medical attention would be required. Next to him was Kraglin. The poor guy seemed like he could be knocked over with how much he was shaking. He had obvious tears streaming down his face, and it was no mystery; some of the crew like Tullk had been super close to him over the past, and for them to die…

And yet, despite being exiled from the Ravagers, the two stood saluting in pride at the corpses during the funeral. And so was he.

Apparently, Rocket had called Stakar Ogord about what had gone down, and with that… the entire Ravagers came and gave their farewell to the fallen. Fireworks had exploded left and right, giving a tremendous and well-deserved tribute to the ones who had fallen and would now rest.

And thus… it lead to the new nine Guardians of the Galaxy standing in the Quadrant’s main section watching it. But as it went on…

“Cap’n…”

The group’s attention turned to Kraglin, choking back a sob, as he glanced over to the Centurion with his head bowed.

“With all due respect… don’t ever do that again,” he said.

Upon hearing that, Yondu chuckled slightly, before slapping him on the shoulder.

“Duly noted, Kraglin. And I’m sorry for doin' it, though I had my reasons,” he said, but then lifted his nose up to him, “But don’t go callin' me your captain no more. Because I’m not.”

Before he could register the confused shock on his face, the man had turned towards Quill.

“He is,” he said gently, causing him to do a double take.

Yondu was… letting him be the leader over him?

“Well, boy?” his voice spoke up, Quill’s eyes blinking when they refocused, “Where do we go from here?”

Suddenly, all eyes laid onto him. Yondu and Kraglin standing to his right, Rocket slightly in front of him, Drax and Mantis on the high part near the left with Groot, Nebula sitting by herself on the same part but in the opposite direction, and…

“It is your choice, Peter,” Gamora said, walking over to him from his left.

Upon hearing that, his head lowered to the floor, contemplating his… their next move…

With a bit of a breath, Quill nodded and spoke, “I think… we should go to Xandar first. We need to get Yondu some medical treatment.”

The heads of Rocket and Kraglin were the first and the biggest to nod at that.

“I think… it would be beneficial… for all of us to have a rest there as well; a little… relaxing time as well,” Mantis spoke up, earning a nod from Drax.

After his actions, the giant man then had new information dawn on him.

“Actually… come to think of it, our previous vessel of travel is still damaged from where we crash-landed from the onslaught of the Sovereign,” he folded his arms, causing all of the original Guardians (minus the sleeping Groot) to remember what had landed them in this huge adventure to begin with.

“Damn it… I forgot; all of our stuff is still in that place, too,” Rocket grumbled, scratching at his ears at the thought of having to comb through the wreckage for his belongings.

“In any case,” the quiet voice said, causing them all to look up at the sitting figure of Nebula, “it would be wise to return there soon. Even if your ship isn’t able to be saved initially, salvaging it for extra parts to build onto this one could prove useful in the future.”

As much as he didn’t want to part with the Milano… Quill had to acknowledge it was a good idea. Though, one thing was for certain.

“I’d also like to find a new way to play my music,” he grumbled, “Frickin’ jerkwad smashed my Walkman and Awesome Mix Volume One to pieces…”

“He what??”

“That freakin' asswipe!!”

“How dare that monstrous fiend!!”

Ignoring the outbursts from his older guardians, the urge to laugh was still there. It was funny how these three hated his music when they first started to live together, and now they couldn’t get enough of this…

“Hey, don’t worry about that, boy,” Yondu said, slightly grinning as Kraglin began to form one of his own upon realizing what he was talking about, “I’ve got somethin' really magnificent to show you. You won't even begin to believe how many of them songs you'll be able to put on it...”

His grin came in full force as the fireworks outside the ship continued to flash and roar…

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

“Man… those fireworks are a perfect way to just take it easy…”

It was a rare treat to see fireworks off in the dark, star-lit sky. And what better way to see it than to watch your neighbors light up their own fireworks for the fourth of July? Clearly, this was the life, being able to take it easy…

With a yawn and an adjustment of his hat, he looked up into the sky and enjoyed the light show. The clean cut grass made for an excellent soft surface to enjoy the spectacular display. The long goatee twirling in his fingers, the can of diet Pepsi near his arm, the feeling of the wind against his legs and face: what more could a guy ask for, right?

“Ahh… nothing like just being lazy to enjoy a perfect summer… such a shame that I have to work tomorrow…” he said gently, closing his eyes.

When he looked up, something had caught his eye. A particular set of colors within the giant explosion of a light show seemed… unnatural. As if… there were a greater meaning to it. His lazy smile stayed on his bearded face, but… he couldn’t help but sit up slightly.

“...Eh?”

How odd… for a second, that firework seemed different than the others-

Immediately, a blast of light shined right in the corner of his left eye. Blinking, his head moved to see his phone light up with a notification. A text. Having a hunch on who it was, he gently picked up the phone, swiped to unlock it, and read it. After a few seconds, he chuckled tiredly before stuffing it into his hoodie pocket.

“Aww, man. Just when it was getting fun…”

Taking his can into one hand, he gently moved his body so that his free one could give enough push to send him from his knees and onto his feet. A huge groan came from his body as he stood up straight; after all, big guys like him aren’t used to getting up so fast, ya know?

Stuffing his feet into the black sandals that were nearby, he took one swig from his can and then began to trek his way through the field to his new destination.

“Oh well… let’s just see what the next day brings me…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So to make it straight, the OC will be a character based off me. Not everything they say, do, or have gone through will 100% reflect me, my past, my tastes, and my morals. I hope you all can understand that.
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please feel free to let me know what you think in the comments.


	2. Just your regular morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp... decided to give this another chapter before an 8 hour shift.... yippie-skippy.
> 
> Let me know what you guys think so far.
> 
> Also, apologies for the horrible lack of knowing science. Will try to work around it, heh. Let's get started.

_Four Years Later..._  
  
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\  
  
“She told him she’d rather fix her makeup / than try to fix what’s going on…”

Immediately, the guitars blaring and the drums perfectly assisting in the first verse had snapped the perfect line of sleep like an audible noise from doing the same thing to a glow stick. However, more brutal to where the poor stick was just snapped in two, causing the liquid inside to just pour out. Ehh, whatever; hopefully, that analogy will do.

It didn’t initially cause him to violently sit up or spaz out to hit his phone’s snooze button, however. How cliche would that be?

“But the problem keeps on calling / even with the cellphone gone…”

Instead, he somewhat was aware of his efforts to ignore the blaring sound and singing lyrics coming from Jon Foreman’s voice was futile.

But that wasn’t going to stop him from trying.

The persistent (only in the quest of sleeping) figure made a groaning hum to himself while the dried lips pursed themselves. The fingers clenched the fabric of his covers, signaling his rather hilarious antics. Sort of like a pouting child who made it their new goal to make their target’s life hell for being denied their way. But for him… without the malice.

It was only a matter of time before he gave up and started to hum along with the tune, a groggy, yet sly smile appearing.

“She told him that she believes in living / bigger than she’s living now…”

And thus his head began to nod with the drums to the point where he decided a pillow wasn’t worth it anymore. Well, neither was sleeping in and being late to his job, thus leading to him losing his income. But he digressed.

Ahh, it wasn’t worth it anymore. Time to enjoy the beautiful day that was looking his way.

He embedded his left elbow and right hand into the mattress and managed to push up enough to help his body shift a little momentum in sitting up. Carbon dioxide escaped his mouth in a huff. Picturing it to be as hilarious as someone can possible do it, his eyes were somehow a thin line in refusing to open for two reasons: sunlight and sleepy seeds. The previously mentioned huff had caused his lips to make the sound of a car. At least, how a child tries to make it sound like. Pushing away whatever hair was on his forehead, he sat for a solid good ten seconds listening to the song to continue.

“But her world keep spinning backwards / and upside down…”

His mouth finally forming a lazy smile, his head gently swiveled its way towards the right where said phone was resting. Currently, the phone was on a maple wood nightstand with a rather cool looking glass ball lamp that was accompanied by a white lampshade with a city and skyscrapers design in black. Along with that was a Danganronpa wallet that had the symbol of Hope’s Peak Academy on it, a set of keys to a car, and an opened can of Sprite. Instantly, the hand moved towards the beverage and managed to take a hold of it, despite his eyes being closed.

Oh, that’s right. He always opens a can of soda before he goes to bed. That way, if he were to wake up, or more realistically have another night with his good ol’ buddy Insomnia, he had something to drink.

Putting to his lips, he could feel the can had at least half of its content inside still. The delicious taste immediately hit his tongue; well, darn it, the carbonation had run out. Most likely during the few hours of sleep he managed to get off.

...Welp, it ain’t like him to waste it…

Leaning back enough to swig the whole can, he also realized that he focused so long on his Sprite that the song had already gone past the bridge part and now onto the chorus...

Ah well, he was done drinking and letting out a small burp to himself. He could afford to join in and ‘officially’ wake up.

“Gone, like yesterday is gone / like history is gone / just try and prove me wrong / and pretend like you’re immortal…”

He guessed that was enough resting for now. He had work today, so might as well begin the process to get it over with.

A groan scrapping out of his lungs, he swung his legs over the edge of the twin purple-sheeted bed and pushed off the mattress to stand up. His comfy bed was placed within the middle of the purple, silver, and black painted room, so the only way to travel between both sides was to walk past the bottom of it and through it and the black metal shelving unit that held multiple wood-woven baskets with a variety of things like portable video game cases and small books.

On the right hand side where he faced the nightstand, there were two windows; one faced in front of the bed, while the other was at the right. Both were garnished with a darkish gray pair of curtains. In that section was a black clothes dressed, a wooden case with glass that held all of his old gaming systems, and a bookshelf for his guides, favorite artbooks, and some novels that he treasured. On the left hand side, was a red leather loveseat in front of a cherry wood coffee table. That had a 52 inch flat-screen tv, which was connected to the white PS4 below, that was bolted to a stand and stood up with a rather tall height from the ground; that also had a few shelving units below which he didn’t use for much and where the console, as well as four different colored wireless controllers, had been placed. Near them on that wall were two closets, both with two doors each, that held a multitude of various storage.

But throughout every single area, at least one or two empty soda cans of different flavors could be seen littered around the room… if he was an artist, perhaps he could call it a work in progress.

His feet touching the white and multicolored carpet, the phone was then picked up with the man’s free hand and disconnected from its charger. Tapping the screen quickly as to not disturb the alarm and let the song continue playing, he glanced at the battery life.

100%. Perfect.

He then glanced at the time.

8:32 am. ...Eh, doable.

Another huff escaped his mouth as he turned to exit the room-

BANG.

“! G…… oh, boy…”

The pained hiss followed by the exhale of throbbing discomfort had sent the nerves in his left foot shooting it throughout the whole body, making it all aware that he just stubbed his toe against the metal chair with huge white fan on it that was set on high.

Oh yeah, he asked if he could borrow one of the fans last night since the temperature had gotten ridiculously humid.

Welp, if the weakened Sprite hadn’t woken him up now…

Being more alert of his shuffling and slightly putting less pressure on his left foot for the moment, he ended up making his way around the maze he called his room, he tried to focus on the white noise that had resembled the extended second chorus of Switchfoot’s Gone and proceeded to the bathroom to spruce up.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Ahhh, the feeling of the body being clean, hair shampooed twice, and the numbing on one’s toe from where the pain left. What a comforting feeling!

And slipping into his black basketball shorts with orange lining on the legs over the boxers, he was just about done getting ready for his day. Just one simple change of attire, and another day of work could commence. However, his clothing wasn’t exactly what that you’d label ‘work attire’.

Minus the fact that his athletic basketball shorts were just described, that and the boxers were the only articles of clothing on his bottom half. For you see, the old worn-out and rather dirty black sandals that velcro-strapped above the top part of the foot and had always been a few sizes too big for him was his selection of footwear. Not even a pair of socks or, hell, a backup pair of sneakers. Just his old sandals and rather calloused feet. That was a funny thing too in of itself. Despite the massive size of men’s sixteen shoes, to where he’d specifically need to order new shoes through magazines, the same sandals from when he was like… ten or eleven years old still lasted for a decade and a half. Comfy, easy to put on, and durable. No wonder he had fought to keep them from being thrown out into the garbage and how he washed them as well as he could.

Focusing on the top half, he always was a t-shirt guy. He could deal with dress shirts, v-necks, and collared shirts; really, had no problem. But if he was allowed to choose to his taste, he’d always been a carefree guy who loved those shirts. And not just any normal t-shirts. Colorful and messaged ones. From Christian ones from when he was a teenager where he had puns related to Youtube or Facebook to the ones with snarky messages like ‘For a second there, you almost bored me to death', his dresser was endless. But lucky for him was he to not be completely tired from the video game marathon he pulled last night and pull out a t-shirt for today. Grabbing it by the collar allowed him to yank it up and glance at it.

“Sarcasm: Just one of the few services I offer for free.”

The yellow and black text that showed on the chest and stomach of the green shirt seemed like an okay selection.

It even smelled clean.

Good shit.

Immediately putting onto his body, he attempted to somewhat fix his light blond, messy hair that covered his ears and his bangs towards the right side went down to his eyebrows more than the other side. Still had him slightly amazed that he had relatively good hair. Well, he was only twenty-three, but still.

After finally finishing that, he looked over towards the small left armrest of the loveseat to see the final pieces to his look.

A very old, worn down, and faded thin purple hoodie that seemed like it had been through floods of stains and smudges. So many that the purple either died out or was a grey-ish or black-ish purple. The same one that he’s worn since….

No, that’s not important.

With that, a purple hat with black and white metallic patterned words that said ‘Sacramento Kings’ on it with the logo to its left so it evenly stretched across the front, sat in plain view from where the hoodie had been before he put it on. Under the lid had another crown design in black and white letters with the name of the city once more. Next to it was a purple cosplay Naruto headband with the symbol of the Sound Village’s music note. They weren’t exactly the same color as the hoodie or to each other, but it fit his color scheme. At least, he thought that way.

“All righty… another day, another paycheck.”

Zipping the hoodie up to where it barely went over his rather big chest, it fit snugly around every inch of the body. Not to where it didn’t fit, but where it obviously had no breathing room. Taking the hat, he mashed his light blonde hair in a messy uncombed bunch and put the cap on to hide it. Taking the ends of the headband into his hands, he tied it over the logo and lettering of the hat. Now, he had a purple hat with a Naruto headband tied on top of it, the tied knot being right near the adjustment strap of the hat.

Only two more things and he was ready to go.

Despite his darker colored facial hair being rather scraggly and in a sense ‘taking over his face’, his goatee had a super long line that actually went down right above the base of his neck. You see, like the description of the wallet said, he was a fan of Danganronpa. And frankly, the character Leon Kuwata had a design he always loved. The goatee specifically, so he purposely grew out the facial hair on his chin to achieve it. Putting his hand into his right pocket allowed him to get a silver bead. While holding it, he thinned out and funneled the goatee hair through the bead. It thus stayed onto the bottom of his chin while the long strand of hair was complete.

One more thing now.

Looking past his sofa was his plastic bag that counted as his lunch bag. And inside said bag was family size box of crackers and his necessary drinks. Let’s see here…

Pepsi Max? Check.

Coca-cola? Check.

7-Up? Check.

Sprite Zero? Check.

Barqs? Check.

Diet Pepsi? Check.

A&W Cream Soda? Check.

….hmmm, could use one more Pepsi, he guessed.

Grabbing another can out of his closet, he plopped it into his bag and only left the room after he made sure his wallet, keys, and phone were in his hoodie pockets. Moving towards the door, he maneuvered through the small, yet cozy home and began to make his way to the garage.

“? Is that you, honeybug?”

Hearing the female voice call from the bedroom, which was adjacent to the door leading towards the garage, he gently stopped and turned slightly.

“Why, yes, it’s me,” he said, his tone soft and cheerful with all he could muster.

Opening the door had shown an older woman with the same color hair as him, though it appeared to have black dyed on the underside closer to her skin. It currently was in a ponytail, and that style went along with her beautiful blue eyes hiding behind her glasses. With grey shorts and a black t-shirt, it was clear that she wasn’t planning on going anywhere on this beautiful July day.

Taking a good look at his look, she ended up sighing slightly.

“...Well… I see you’re going to wear the same hoodie and shorts 3 days in a row,” she said, deadpanning slightly at him, “As well as being persistent in wearing your Naruto stuff.”

A soft chuckle came out of his mouth as he rested his right hand onto his side and waved the comment off with his left. Apparently, that remark didn’t hurt him as much as one thought.

“Relax, relax; I made sure they went through the wash with other stuff last night. They’re clean, I promise,” he said, smiling lazily as his relaxed stance showed no worry.

“I can’t relax; you know it’s a mother’s job to worry about her kid,” she said, giving a teasingly fed up smile.

“And you know that I’ve got it under control,” he replied back to his mom cooly, “I’m already set for the day, even.”

One glance over at his bag, and his mom deadpanned.

“Really, honey?”

“What?”

“Only a box of cheese crackers and eight cans of soda? That’s what you call an acceptable and healthy lunch?” she sighed before rubbing her forehead, “Whatever happened to the days where you actually made sandwiches for work?”

“Gee, I dunno, mom; Alien Invasion, S.H.I.E.L.D, Research, Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich. One of these things aren't like the others,” his lazy smile barely grew, slightly rocking back and forth on each leg as he chuckled at his mother's incredulous look, "...But in all seriousness, when you’re called in by the United States government and S.H.I.E.L.D themselves and asked to aid in the research of an alien species and their technology, it’s kinda hard to remember you have a lunch break…”

Indeed, the attack on New York City by the weird Chitauri species which went down a few months ago. Good times, right?

Well, he wasn’t exactly there. In fact, he and his family were in a nearby city close to Michigan when the sudden news broke out. A strange fleet of unidentified ships came soaring out of nowhere and began to attack multiple areas of the United States. Maybe the whole world, but he wasn’t sure. At first, he only thought it was a dumb story some trolls on a website made with special effects. But then, his mom started freaking out over breaking news from Detroit, showing multiple ships attack various places. So badly to where his residential area actually huddled up together in an old rec building to weather out the horrible storm of the strange unknown.

Long story short, they were lucky enough for that hero group in New York to defeat them and drive them back. The Avengers, he believed they were called…?

And a longer story even shorter, despite working at a local gas station, his degree in Science and Robotics from Harvard had managed to catch the eye of both the government and S.H.I.E.L.D. Apparently, the Chitauri (that was the name of the race apparently that had attacked; he only knew this once the two organizations came to him) had left behind many pieces of their technology, such as weapons, broken ship parts, and much more. And covering it up from the media, the man behind S.H.I.E.L.D itself, Nick Fury, had decided to enlist some of the country’s top scientific minds to research and find new information about other life that could be used to protect the United States, and if it came to even bigger, dire needs, the entire world.

Oh, sorry. Not meaning to toot his own horn, considering how much of a worthless piece of s-

Oops, sorry. Going off topic…

Anyways, imagine his and his family’s surprise when Fury shows up at his workplace and discusses with him at length the importance of said opportunity. Hilariously enough, he didn’t even believe it to be true at first and though this guy was late for a Comic-con date. Honestly, a cross-up between a pirate and the Matrix… that was legitimately what the guy looked like to him. Took everything he had in his tired and big body to not start laughing and spew the sip of Dr. Pepper that was in his mouth at the time all over him.

But with intense prodding from his family behind the scenes, he begrudgingly and hesitantly ended up accepting the invitation. Soon, he was fully employed for S.H.I.E.L.D and making huge advancements towards protecting the country from alien threats.

At least, that’s what they said to him all the time. Honestly, it didn’t feel like he was doing much of anything important.

Then again, what do you expect hiring someone like him? Something actually worth t-

Oops, sorry.

“...Okay, Mr. Witty Comeback. I suppose I can’t stop you when your mind’s this made up,” she said, slightly wincing as she shifted the majority of her weight off her right leg, “What time is it, anyways?”

“Oh… It’s 9:11 right now, mom,” he said, glancing past her and into the kitchen where the microwave and its lit-up clock sat on one of the countertops.

The moment the words left his mouth, he felt a disturbance in the force. It wasn’t all that bad, but enough to get him alarmed to watch the wide-eyed expression of horror from his parental figure as she quickly walked into the kitchen, glanced at the clock, and back to him.

“Honey, are you kidding me? You have to be at work in nineteen minutes and it’s a forty-five minute drive-”

“Relaaaaax, mother of mine,” his voice raised on the volume scale in a way to drown her out into silence, earning a glare from her as well, “I’m gonna get there, don’t worry about it.”

His mom folded her arms in sync with her eyebrow raising.

“And on time?”

“More or less.”

“Without the police chasing you?”

“‘Ey, that was one time a year and a half ago, and I didn’t get caught at all.”

“You’re right; you lucked out as all hell. If it wasn’t for that other car speeding eighty-five past you and the officer at the time-”

“Mother, the more you lecture me, the shorter amount of time I’ve got to get there on time,” he said, saying it in a lax and passive tone.

He wasn’t meaning to be rude, but the facial expression of the one he was speaking to seemed to take slight offense to such a thing. Before an attempt at clarification could be made, a sigh of defeat came forth.

“All right, all right. I get what you mean,” she said, a smile gracing her lips, “Don’t want you getting into trouble with the government itself.”

Making her way over to him, she kissed on his cheek and hugged him close. Aww, he wasn’t embarrassed. It was the woman he loved with all his heart and that he’d do anything for. Juggling the bag on his left shoulder, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, due to how big and taller he was compared to her. He hugged her gently before moving towards the door.

“Have a good day, sweetie. I love you.”

“I will. And love you too. Be back around 7:30 tonight. They said something about overtime today, so will be late regardless.”

With a wave to each other, the mother went back into the bedroom, presumably to sleep a little bit more if he had to guess. A nod in each step walking to his car, he dug his phone out of his pocket and clicked on the music app.

“Hmm… what to play going to work….” he spoke to himself before smacking his lips and opening the driver side door, “Ahh, that’s right. Glen Campbell recently passed away, didn’t he? Welp, time to give him a little extra love this morning…”

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

“Hey! You actually made it somewhat close to being on time today!”

The big guy, bless his heart for the perseverance and effort put into the attempt, had just walked into the giant lab. The building was structured like one of those old car garages where they’d lift the vehicles up and have the best mechanics giving them a good fixin’ up. Probably like what a present day car dealer’s auto shop would look like, in both size and sound. However, all various science equipment from simple magnifying lenses to giant dissecting lasers were there for all to use to their heart’s content. Unfortunately, we cannot allow the information of where he traveled to and where said lab was. You know, confidential government information, right?

As for the bless his heart part, he kept the hoodie on and struggled to keep the giant white lab coat on. Specifically, pulling his arms through the tight sleeves while keeping the sleeves of his hoodie from bunching up.

On top of that, the voice he heard was the scientist who was in charge of the giant area. It was a normal, everyday looking man. Combed short, black hair with a pair of glasses over his green eyes. His black pants fit perfectly with his own white lab coat.

He always thought the guy looked like something out of a movie. Just look up something along the lines of “Scientist No. 1” and he’d be playing the part. Either that, or a perfect design for a NPC in a RPG game. It honestly had made him laugh thinking about it. So much, he actually laughed slightly the first day they ended up meeting, and thus had lamely covered it up claiming “he remembered a joke at that moment.”

The funniest part about it all?

He’s told him his name like four times and he still cannot remember what it was again.

Well, maybe that just shows how horrible he is at remembering names and how he su-

Oops.

“I know, right?” he smiled casually, nodding to him as he finally got that damn sleeve fixed, “Consider it my new personal record, man. Might even go for being early tomorrow. Who knows?”

“Okay, let’s not be too optimistic there,” the head scientist replied with a bit of a snarkiness flavor to it, causing the big guy to grin and barely suppress a laugh.

“Fair enough,” he shrugged with the same toothy, yet tired grin as he cocked his head towards the left, “Gotta say, I’m lovin’ the set-up here; my boss doesn’t get after me for being a few minutes late while I get to have my hands on some pretty amazing stuff here.”

The man raised an eyebrow during his incredulous expression.

“Now, just a minute, Mr-”

“Sir, sir, not meaning to be rude and butting in while you’re speaking to me, but I’m pretty sure we’ve done this song and dance before a few times. Not the kind of guy who’s earned those formalities,” he said, folding his arms and smiling at him gently, “No need for this ‘Mister’ stuff. The name’s Morse. That’s all you need to call me.”

The motion of his hand lowering itself into the man’s direction signaled him that he was done interrupting and allowed him to be able to continue his thought.

“Very well. Morse, may I please remind you that we both know the reason why you’re always late? And that you’ve asked me to keep said reason a secret from your family?” he said, the smile on the guy’s face slightly dying, “I’m not meaning to come off as I’m blackmailing you with reminding you this, and if I do, then my apologies. But I hope you know that I’m not that lenient about you being late all the time like you claim.”

He took a step closer to him and talked in a quieter tone, as to make sure no one else in the place was going to be able to hear their conversation. A sign that the younger man took as a sign of being serious.

“Look… truth be told, you are one of the most important people in this large facility at the moment. Your ability to find things that not even the experienced veterans of the fields can find in this stuff is absolutely mind-boggling and awe-inspiring. We need you here.”

A slight chuckle came from Morse’s lips.

“Why? I thought I told you that I’m just an average rookie scientist; there’s a thousand more out there in the country who could easily take my place here,” he said, smiling.

“With all due respect, cut the crap, Morse,” the scientist fired back, “You absolutely know that at least fifty-five percent of the findings we’ve unearthed and delivered to S.H.I.E.L.D since the invasion have been from you. Yes, you may be correct in saying you’re a rookie, but average? You’re way above that.”

Well… damn.

Ahh, what the hell? It wasn’t worth getting into a debate about this.

“...Alrighty, I guess I better step it up a notch, huh?” he said, fixing his hat with a smirk and causing the scientist to smile with his newly-founded and improved attitude, “So… what’s the part I’m working on today?”

“Well, let’s see…” the man took a step back, looking at the clipboard as the two walked side-by-side, “Both Smith and Sanchez are currently invested into the cockpit of the fighter jet we uncovered. Development in the thruster systems of the ships are nearly finished, so there’d be no point in putting you there. And we got O’Hara, Iwasashi, and Kain on the corpse of one of the soldiers in the bio labs.”

“...Nobody is working on the rifle… AGAIN, amirite?” Morse duckfaced with a barely irritated sigh as he dug into his bag for a can.

“Nope; they’ve left that all alone for you to take care of. And for good reason too. You’ve been making great progress on the weapon thus far,” he said, his left fingers causing the pen to dance between them, “So, you okay with it?”

Morse cracked open one of the Pepsis in the bag and held it to his lips, making sure to speak before he took a sip, “As long as people don’t constantly keep interrupting me while I work and I don’t run out of soda, we got no complaints, boss. Welp, off to researching I go…”

Being graced by a nod, the hat-wearing young scientist made his way across the giant lab. Multiple sounds were gracing his ears as he walked past. Well… not like gracing. More like tormenting and tainting. Loud screeches, huge echoing clangs that bounced along the walls. Felt exactly like a perfect recipe for a migraine right there. It also didn’t help that some of the people he was walking past had begun to notice him. Some even going so far as to point behind his back.

He had heard all of the rumors. He knew that he was considering the “out-cast”. Not meaning to be dramatic and stuff, but despite being the “fifty-five percent” guy, he wasn’t exactly social with most people. Felt no need to. It was a work place and all he needed was his family at the moment.

But that was fine. He was okay with people having different opinions about him. Most of the stuff they said about him was probably true, anyways. Considering how much of a pie-

Looking up, his table, with a dark scaly and disfigured thing that seemed to take the shape of a larger gun, laid against the wooden desk. Several empty soda cans had been there previously from the last day he had been here. Along those cans were a flashlight, a few small blades, and various other tools to help dissect and examine the weapon.

But no chair was present. After all, he would explain with a passion that he thought better on his feet, not his ass.

Setting the bag down gently to not break open any soda cans and hearing the clangs of them on the ground, he took another sip of his first soda of the day and began to pick up a flashlight to go over where he left off…

“Kay.. Let’s see if I can remember where the hell I left off again…”

But little did he know a certain discussion about him was taking place nearby...

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

“Sir?”

“O’Hara. What is it?”

“Can I… ask something of you?”

“...It’s about Morse, isn’t it?”

“Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying this because I have some kind of a grudge, or for petty reasons such as ‘I don’t like him’. But I need to understand. Why… someone like him?”

“...”

“I mean, sure, he’s a graduate from Harvard, and that says a lot about a person. But, there are hundreds more who are probably just as smart as he is, and yet conduct themselves in a professional manner. They actually dress appropriately and look decent. But… why specifically him?”

“I understand why you may think that way, O’Hara. But I assure you that he’s just as qualified. He’s different from normal Harvard graduates.”

“? How so, sir?”

“...He’s what Mr. Fury called… a ‘technological archeologist’. Morse… there’s just something about him. Some kind of ability to be able to look at a scientific subject or a particular piece of machinery or technology from a different angle than what most would choose and be able to tackle it within half the time it takes another to do so. You come up with a formula to build a new weapon, and by that time, he'll come up with ten different models and actually start working on several of them. Faster and better. It’s the reason we’ve managed to come this far with the Chitauri findings and stay within the government’s good graces…”

“...You’re not joking?”

“Do you think I’d let him go crazy here and work on whatever he really wanted for the majority of the time if I was? That guy... somehow, he just has the ability to look at this Chitauri technology and do so much with it. More than I've ever seen before... Trust me; we need him here. He's doing so much for us.”

“Whoa… I didn’t realize that he was that good…”

“Believe me, I was shocked as well… but hopefully, we can keep him for the time being. Who knows what else he could find with that kind of potential? That is… if he doesn’t waste it…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lack of Guardians. I wanted to try and establish a bit of Morse's strange character as I'm sure he'll come off as confusing more than complex. Still working it out. Hopefully you guys enjoy it.
> 
> Thanks for reading~


	3. The box and the future

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now we're finally getting into the swing of things.
> 
> Let's dive in now... (posts this at 5 in the morning)
> 
> Gawd, I'm tired...

It wasn’t that he hadn’t done it before. After all, since the Battle of Xandar, he’s been one of her top officials in the Nova Corps. It shouldn’t be that nerve-wracking when the same woman, who happens to be the leader of the whole planet and their defense- well, okay, that is a bit nerve-wracking. But still, he’s been called by her multiple times before. And it was way before he had been promoted too. He always would think what Saal would tell him to calm his nerves. Two breaths, deep and slow, and then a clearance of the throat. You should be ready to go by then.

...Saal…

Pushing away the bitter memories of his sharp tongued, yet close friend, the newly promoted Garthan Dey ended up walking past several other Nova Corpsmen in the hall of the main command center. Truth be told, he felt like his uniform looked poorly on him at the moment. You see, he was called in on his day off. He just got finished with an amazing beach day with his beautiful wife and adorable daughter. Stepped right through the door in a quest for a nap in his favorite chair, and then cue the tele-screen. The holographic screen turned on in his kitchen and Nova Prime appeared, requesting his presence at the center pronto.

And now, the man was not only certain he looked pathetic in his wrinkled uniform and messy hair. Could’ve sworn he may have some sand left in his ears somehow, and he had no clue how that was true.

His pondering had been cut short when he realized he had made it into the main hall and had found the same woman who had called him in. Dressed in a rich blue coat over another suit of the same color and white shirt, add that with her blue dress, brown gloves, and her blond hair and lipstick. There she was: Nova Prime Irani Rael.

Hearing him approach from behind, she had been focused on one of the main command tables before turning to face his direction.

“Good afternoon, Garthan Dey,” she said, not giving a smile of any kind and yet giving off a welcoming greeting, “I appreciate you coming in today. I just was given the news it was your day off. My apologies.”

Well, deep down was the urge to nod with that sentence. He kind of was looking forward to one of those good lazy day naptimes…

“Ahh, well… er, it’s fine, ma’am. We just got done with the beach, actually. Therefore, I’m free and ready to serve in anyway I can,” Dey explained while gathering his confidence together at last.

Irani finally had a smile crack her iron mask.

“That’s wonderful to hear. How are they doing by the way? Your wife and daughter?”

“O-Oh! W-well…” Dey came completely thrown off by the question, yet recovered quickly, “My wife is doing a lot better ever since the attack months ago. She’s… honestly rather more cautious and worried now. Since I had a role in the battle, she was fearful I was going to… well, you know.”

He continued after the woman gave him an understanding nod.

“I’ve been reassuring her almost every day that I’m going to be okay from here point on. It’ll be a while before she’s able to take a breath and relax. Comes with the job, I guess. Haha… as for my daughter, I guess I’ve become the coolest person in her whole world. Always talks about me at her school and wants to go wherever I go and whenever I leave.”

Gosh dang it, he was bragging. And in front of Nova Prime herself. Real class act there, Dey. He didn’t mean to. It’s just that it was a thrill for his precious little girl to love him so much to think of him this highly…

A rather gentle chuckle came forth from the woman as he ended up grinning sheepishly and rubbing the top of his curly hair with a blush.

“There’s no need for any apologies if you were about to make one. I find it sweet that she thinks that highly of you,” Irani spoke with a smile, “And to be perfectly honest, the Nova Corps agrees. You have come a long way from your training at the Academy. And you showed excellent leadership during the Battle of Xandar and also with your decision on choosing to have the Guadians of the Galaxy aid us in it.”

“A-Aw, shucks, ma’am…”

“I mean it, Dey. I know for a fact… that Garthan Saal would’ve been so proud,” she said, her face softening as to show her knowledge on treading across a very touchy subject.

Upon hearing the name of his late friend again, Dey’s face had the lips get rather tight before he began to nod a few times and dropped his head to look down. Even to this day, remembering hearing the news that Saal had been apart of the ships that formed the shield that Ronan tore through made his skin shiver cold. Especially when he was further told he was part of the ones that didn’t make it…

“...Thank you, Ma’am. He definitely would’ve,” he said, raising his head in the same time he was clearing his throat and straightening himself upward in the proper form, “Ahem, so… um, you called for me?”

It was time to get down to the serious discussion. The immediately change of strictly business of the utmost importance couldn’t have been more beautifully described than it was on Irani’s face. Her neck craned a nodding motion and motioned for him to follow her. Immediately following her, he watched her put her hands behind her back and look towards one of the main holographic screens.

“I called you here because of a very important matter. I’m sure that you know that despite our cities have been successfully restored and the Nova Corps is nearly back to the strength it was before Ronan’s attack, we are searching even harder for various methods to protect ourselves,” she said, not even glancing back at him, “If anything the attack has proven, it was by the sacrifices of the men and women of both the Nova Corps and… even our enemies, the Ravagers, as well as sheer luck from the Guardians’ quick thinking, that we’re alive to this day.”

The sudden snicker was immediately caught and held back. Dey was really not wanting that kind of awkward tension after such a statement. He couldn’t help but remember watching the remaining security footage of Star-Prince- whoops, Star-Lord (sorry) breakdancing and it actually working enough to turn the tables on Ronan…

“Because of this, we’ve decided to send some of our top researchers onto neighboring planets to scavenge for anything. Whether it be technology, resources, or whatever it may be, if it can somehow aid in strengthening us, we want to acquire it and bring it back to Xandar,” she explained, finally turning to him.

Dey’s brows narrowed as he slightly leaned his head to the right, a mixture of confusion and desire for elaboration rudely mixed together seeping into the facial features.

“I see… so, where does this lead into, ma’am?” he asked politely.

Irani had turned back to the screen and touched the middle of the screen, pulling up a picture into the middle of the screen.

“It leads to this.”

Upon her voice stopping abruptly, Dey took his chance to glance up at the screen. What appeared on screen was some kind of… box? A strange, and unusually simple design, but the size was not to be underestimated. At least having to be possibly twenty-five feet tall and who knows how much it weighed yet, its photo was obviously taken from a great distance, and it showed a strange pattern along it. A black metallic glow that had carved lines into it glowed a dark royal purple color, as if to show a kind of radiation. Along the lines were strange symbols that appeared to be a possible language…?

“This… this was found approximately two hours ago by the research team we had sent on the neighboring, uninhabited planet of Zanarkund,” she continued while motioning to it with her hand, “Found this around the edge of a forest’s end where the land began to become barren from a current drought. The team had been there for a few weeks and finally had moved to the location where they have unearthed it.”

“It’s… certainly incredible. But… what is it?” Dey asked, blinking.

…

“....We have no idea.”

At first, he thought that was just a figment of his imagination. His mind playing tricks on him… something. Like, he couldn’t have just heard what he just heard.

And yet…. Glancing over back towards her… Irani’s face was of pure worry. Her stone-like unbreakable mask that concealed her emotions from others during her duties had become severely cracked. Her eyes continued to dart and dance from all possible angles while continuing to gaze onto the screen. Like, to showcase how the brain wanted to come up with something. Freaking something to explain what it was. But lost within a sea of endless mystery and strong currents kept pulling her in more directions beyond what she could control.

“...I b-beg your pardon, ma’am?” he asked, testing to see if it was true.

“I’m serious, Dey. We… I have no idea what this is,” she said, looking at him and then back at the box’s picture, “When I sent our researchers out, my selection was strictly the best of the best. Intelligence, resourcing, technique… of all the species, governments, qualifications… I’ve sent the best out there to find what they could. They have… and none of them can decipher what this thing is. Even other groups on different planets were given the order to go and help them and not a blasted one of them can figure it out. All this technology, all of our advancements, all of this progress we’ve made in Xandar’s proud history to get to where we are now and our biggest obstacle is a box that we can’t even…”

The surprising frustration seeped out of her body visibly. The words had dissolved into a tight exhale that barely escaped the lipstick-covered mouth before they were forced shut in an attempt to be able to contain the uncharacteristic anger. Nova Prime always had the answers and managed to keep everything under control. So, why was it that unnerving to cause the cold beginnings of despair in the pit of his gut in seeing her like this…?

“...As a protector of this planet, it’s my duty to always be aware of everything and know everything. That way, I can fully be one step ahead and… but this has me trapped in a sea of indecisiveness. I just… don’t entirely know what to do, Dey.”

With that, she turned to him slightly.

“Which is why… I’m asking for your advice on how to go from here.”

If his eyes hadn’t bulged out of their sockets by now, Dey would’ve been surprised to hear someone tell him so. He brought his left hand towards his chest.

“Me, ma’am?”

Irani nodded with a quick motion.

“Well… I had the conceived planning to find another specialist in science, specifically technological expertise, to possibly aid us in this endeavor. But nearly every species that have been known to have the best minds are already employed or partnered with us, and I fear that I do not have any idea on where to look for someone who can help us,” she confessed, “That is why… right now, I’m honestly open to suggestions, Garthan.”

Dey shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot for a pair of seconds.

“I understand, but… to be honest, I’m not exactly knowledgeable in that field nor know anybody with those certifications…”

“Oh, come now, Garthan. Not more than five minutes ago did I just get done explaining how you managed to get to where you are now in the Nova Corps,” she fought hard to prevent a smirk from appearing, “If anyone is resourceful enough to come up with something on quick thinking, it’s you.”

“...You realize you’re giving me way too much credit.”

“Hah… maybe so. But right now, I can admit to being desperate.”

Seeing her iron will refusing to budge, Dey felt an imaginary timer above his head begin to tick. Counting the unpleasant silence of Irani expecting some kind of an idea from him with her view directed dead center to him. Pfft, him. Come up with a good plan. That was a riot. Like that time when he and Saal were kids and he thought that they should try the Burkubar Generator to power up their electric wagons. Wasted an entire summer in a leg cast due to that plan.

But still, he couldn’t just leave her hanging like this.

Licking his lips and moving his left hand slightly to where it brushed over his hip, the eyes darted along the floor tile lines in a strange, yet concentrated attempt to grasp for an idea t-

….Hey… maybe, just maybe… it wasn’t that big of a plan, but a stretch can sometimes work, right?

“...Well… this is just a thought, but… perhaps we could… ask Nova himself for help?” he said, a cheeky smile appearing as his right fingers tore in between his dark curls to have their nails scratch deep into the skin, a measure of showing his sheepish hesitation.

...Of course. The actual hero himself...

Rather than paying any remote attention to the breaking of Dey’s composure, Irani couldn’t help but blink in surprise at the… approach she hadn’t thought of. Her left fingers slowly cupped her chin carefully while the eyes began to dart around in front of her. She wasn’t particularly looking at anything. More like the sudden realization of such a possibility never even reaching her mind.

“I must admit, I didn’t think of such an opportunity. Do you think he could possibly have some kind of solution?” she asked.

Dey lost the smile instantly and bit his lip rather too soon, causing him to flinch before rubbing it with his tongue to soothe the pain.

“I-I’m not honestly sure. Frankly, I don’t know what he could do. But… I know we’ve- err, you’ve sent him to various places where the Nova Corps couldn’t reach due to risking war and other such… things, I guess. Maybe there’s a planet with a species we don’t know of or one we’ve overlooked who has a potential person to help you out with the… ‘box’, ma’am?”

With a nod, Nova Prime nodded and turned towards him.

“Garthan… I think you just helped us figure out a potential way to escape this dilemma,” the smile on her face made his confidence grow as he stood up straight again, “Contact him immediately. The sooner he can find someone, the better.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Oh, and Dey?”

The man stopped abruptly, his identity being called to causing him to spin back on his heels and face her.

“Yes, ma’am?”

Irani closed her eyes as she spoke, before opening them halfway through her words, “It might also be a good idea to hire some protection. That way, if Nova does come up successful, we have bodyguards that are able to protect them just as well as our Corpsmen.”

Dey ended up nodding before addressing her.

“...I know we haven’t been in contact for the longest time with them… but I might have an idea on who to contact for help, ma’am.”

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Gawddamn, it was a freakin’ miracle to somehow make it back to the driveway. That day was brutal. Nearly had his fingers taken off when he manages to break apart that weapon. After all, how the heck was he supposed to know that it had a gravitational reverting reaction to being broken apart? ...Ah well, it wasn’t so bad. If anything, that rifle may not only have a single purpose as a gun.

Welp, let’s leave that back at the lab. Time for dinner.

And just in time too. Pulling the car into the driveway of the small one-story house, he was on the last few sips of his last soda can. Somehow, he managed to last through all eight throughout the day.

That boggled his mind as well. Specifically since the cover of the rifle had slightly irritated him. He remembered from what memories his tired brain was allowing him to recall that he had cracked it open with a few attempts of different tools. First, one of the knives to chip away what he could. Pfft, funny. Bent the tip of the poor thing. He specifically remembered raising the tool up with an incredulous glare and a smack of his lips. Literally tossing it over his shoulder as he heard a few snickers from a few of his “co-workers”. Some he had a good idea whom they were.

That’s when he busted out the work wrench and just began not using it properly like a hammer. He hoped that the spiked edges of the tool could somehow make a difference. A hammer would not do what he hoped by cracked the surface and could’ve potentially damage the weapon inside of the hard shell he hoped to get past. Then again, using a wrench like a hammer wasn’t that much of a great idea either. But it managed to do exactly what he wanted quite nicely. Good shit, right?

Anyways, long story short… he managed to take his trusty flashlight and examine some of the stuff prior to it. As well as taking parts into the bio lab to inspect it and all that science jazz.

Ehh, sorry. Didn’t mean to bore anyone with his recap of a day. After all, what’d you expect fr-

Kicking the door open of his car while leaning back to guzzle the last contents of the can back, the plastic bag and its contents of a barely opened cheese crackers box had been swung onto his shoulder. He managed to slide out of his seat, shut the door, and go into the house. Not that important of a layout to discuss. He had a feeling it just wasn’t important, ‘aight?

Regardless, he managed to make his way into the house and with a loud announcement at that.

“Hey, I’m home now!”

He heard a male voice from the living room just past the kitchen call out to him from there.

“Hey, buddy! Did ya have a good day?”

Smiling gently, Morse fixed his hat before walking into the room, “Yeah, Mr. Logan. I did.”

Ahh, yes. His lovely stepdad. A gentle giant with grey curly hair and facial hair, usually sporting some kind of a dress shirt with tie or a v-shirt and khaki combination. That is, if he was hot during the summer, and then shorts only, baby. You’re welcome for that knowledge.

And no.

His biological dad was not dead, abusive, or some kind of bad guy.

To be honest yet fair to the both of them so that they won’t have their dirty laundry exposed… after several decades of being happy together, his dad and mom decided to part ways when he was just finishing up from college. The news sort of rocked him, as this would forever be a new direction in his life, but if it was for the best, then it wasn’t his decision to intervene. Plus, he felt like their divorce was between them and had no right to butt into their affairs.

Fast forward, a few years later…

Mr. Logan and his mom met over the internet. Turns out that the two actually went to school back when they were in high school and actually dated at one point. Now, his honest feelings were this. He didn’t feel a super strong connection with Mr. Logan, but he still viewed him as a dad. Not one to replace his real father, but just as much respect and love for him. However, his mom had smiled and been happy. Something he had to admit wasn’t there for the longest time. So, if he could do what he wanted for her, then he’d be okay with them together.

Upon hearing him words, his mom called from the room. He should’ve guessed she’d be with him in the living room watching TV. They always did in the evening times together. Family Fued to be exact.

Eh.

“Hold on, honey; let your momma actually hug you after a day of work,” she said, smiling at him during her walk into the room and wrapping her arms around him.

The bag slid down his shoulder rather roughly despite only having the box of crackers, and it caused him to silently wince. But he managed to play it off as him being tired and hugged her back.

“Good to see ya, ‘o mother of mine,” he smiled, “Do anything fun today?”

“Well, yeah, we did. Finally got the pool deck taken down today. We managed to use the saw to cut down the upper level. Since we’re redoing the whole thing. ...You do remember I told you that, right?”

“Oh, yeah, yeah… it was your whole summer goal for this year. I remember,” he said, them finally letting go as he glanced over at her with a smile.

She laughed slightly as she nodded.

“Good to know you do listen to me,” she teased, causing him to chuckle back at that statement, “But if you take a look outside of your bedroom window, you’ll see it all gone. Managed to cut through it, take the wood to the fire pit out back, and even used the weed whacker to-”

Instantly, her voice died down with the fact that the lazy smile she had been so used to on her son’s face was replaced with an expressionless one.

“You took the wood out back… meaning you carried heavy pieces of wood?” Morse asked, his eyes not showing signs of anger, but obviously seriousness was hinted.

“Yes,” she said.

“On your bad leg?” he retorted back, raising an eyebrow while dragging out the annunciation of the last two words.

She huffed slightly, “Honey, it’s not like I did it by myself; I had Dale help me.”

“Dale helping you isn’t my issue, mom. It’s the fact that you just recovered from tearing your ACL a while back. And considering how you were leaning off your bad leg this morning, that says to me that you shouldn’t be doing this,” Morse said, his tired half-opened eyes looking away with his mouth slightly open which showed his top row of teeth.

The eyes of his mother got slightly fiercer as she stood her ground. Crud. Somehow, he just stepped over a warning line towards an argument he’s not in the state of mind or energy level to deal with.

“Excuse me? This is an important thing we have to get done, in order to improve the house. Besides, you know darn well that I can’t sit around and do nothing around the house. We all have to do our equal part as a family, and as a team,” his mom said, folding her arms.

So, that just makes it okay for you to blatantly ignore the Doctor’s orders to stay off your leg like that?

Oh, of course.

This statement had to pop right into his head almost immediately. And to be truthful, a part of him really wanted to grind that sentence into her defense.

But it’s his mom, alright? He’s not going to start a fight at seven thirty something at night now because of his snarkiness. It was like a losing battle that he never had the energy for. He loved his mom and he would argue to say that part of that sentence above was out of love too. But gawddamn it, if he ever secretly had his gears grinded whenever smart people stubbornly did not-so-smart things. Especially people he cared about. Which honestly wasn’t a lot of people. But oh boy. Oh boy…

But, meh. It wasn’t right for him to argue with his mom. After all, what; did he not have any faith in his mother that she could do it? Wow, he really must be a worthl-

Sighing, his lazy smile returned as he closed his eyes and shrugged, hands out to the sides.

“Right, right. I know; I’m glad you and Dale got the thing finished,” he said, conceding to her (out of fatigue, not because he agreed) yet failing to give the result of her being happy as she looked upset, “Sorry about doubting ‘ya. So, is dinner in the fridge?”

Hearing him casually just shrug off what was a serious argument, his mom nodded with pursed lips, “Yes, it is. Good stuff too. Shepard’s pie tonight.”

Morse’s grin grew wider as he fixed his hat, “Awesome. That makes the day entirely for me, beautiful mother. I’ll warm it up-”

“Morse.”

Hearing her use the name he preferred going by nowadays usually would make him happy for her to respect his choice. But the tone of voice behind how she just did it now….

Internally cringing, his lazy smile graced his lips once more as he cocked his head to the side and looked into her eyes.

“Yes?”

“...When exactly are you going to get out into the world and live your life?”

...Oh boy, here comes another lecture time.

“Honey, you’ve got such amazing potential from what you learned at Harvard. Someone of your status shouldn’t be keeping himself stuck in a bedroom in his free time. And especially guzzling the amount of soda you do. You’ve got a wonderful personality and as much as you try to deny it, you’re extremely social and friendly. I bet you could make a lot of friends out there if you honestly tried.”

Stuck in his bedroom. Wonderful personality. You could make a lot of friends.

Ech, the generic statement of those words felt like it came out of some kind of teenager movie or something, and that made him just want to cringe at how generic that sounded.

“Heh… Mom, didn’t you say something along these same lines back when I was in high school?” Morse’s lungs produced a wheezy chuckle, causing him to cough.

“Honey, seriously. I don’t want to see you wasting your youth in your room like this,” she said, putting a figuratively-made foot down sternly.

Morse’s tongue poked the side of his mouth slightly before responding.

But he was cut off.

“Exactly. Your mom’s only trying to say this because she loves you, you know,” Dale said, alerting him of his presence as he came walking out to join them.

Another chuckle.

“Aw, man. I wasn’t expecting the double-team procedure, haha,” he said, grinning at them in a joking manner before actually answering them, “But in all seriousness, I know you love me. And that you want me to be happy and the best for me to be achieved and stuff. But guys, I’m fine. Really. I’m doing okay and am content how I am.”

Dale’s eyes immediately glanced over towards his wife. She just ended up talking almost right on the period of his sentence.

“But staying in your room nearly every time you have off from work? Sweetheart, that’s not how to live your life. You should be out having fun with friends. And… I know it may be hard to find new ones after all this time. Because I understand. Especially after-”

No no no no no no no no no no.

No.

We are not going down that path of discussion again for the billionth time. Especially not that kind of a low blow against him.

So, he cleared his throat loudly enough to stop her from talking. It earned a rather mad glare from her and a tired one from Dale, but it got the result he wanted. Grinning rather subtly, Morse played it cool. To show he wasn’t angry and that he was only trying to explain himself.

“I’m sorry about that. Now, mom… Dale… I’m doing fine. That’s the truth, all right?” his voice was soft and kind, but proceeded to worm his way through the cracks of their concern with a lie, “Besides, I socialize with my co-workers at the labs. We get along nicely and that’s why I enjoy my job a lot of the time.”

With a wave of one of his hands in front of him in a circular motion, he continued on.

“Besides, I work for S.H.I.E.L.D, guys. The government themself. I really can’t top that in terms of my life going further. The huge paychecks I get, the ability to use my skills in robotics, the crazy things I get to touch and examine over there. I’m really having a blast. Just because I don’t do much in my free time, doesn’t mean I’m not having a great time outside of work and what not. So… I’m fine. Really. It’s okay.”

With the last few sentences, he lowered his head on purpose. Basically a silent satisfaction of sealing the deal and conversation. Just ending it right there. The bill of his cap blocking the facial expressions of the two adults who remained rather silent. Truth be told, that had him rather nervous from the get-go. Which is why he was going to get the heck out of there, now.

“Now, I’m thinking I better go listen to some Fleetwood Mac on my phone. I’m feeling a bit of Little Lies right now. I’ll make sure I eat my dinner at a reasonable time. You guys have a good night, okay? Love you both.”

Wow, was that song title ironic...

With that, he, as well as he could while sluggish and barely functioning, turned quickly away from the duo and made his way towards the hall. Now, don’t get him wrong; he’s a chill guy. Just, come on. Give him a break. No one wants such a heavy topic discussed after a long day of work. He could vaguely hear tired and upset words being said behind him. Most likely mom and Dale were talking about him once again. But just wasn’t in the mood for this. Not now.

Not…

Oi, he could feel a half of a twelve pack saying good-bye.

His future, huh…?

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Future, huh?

Being four years since the battle with Ego, their future had heavily weighed on his mind for the longest time.

That, and the humming from the Milano was slightly getting on his nerves.

Despite the entire void of space showing nothing but an essence of being night, Quill wasn’t sure what time it exactly was. He knew that everyone else was sleeping in their beds. Something he kind of wanted to do as well at the moment. After all, flying a ship and being responsible for the people in it was an too important to fall asleep during.

Okay, that technically was a lie. He had the autopilot on, but someone needed to stay up to make sure it went smoothly and not into the oncoming path of an asteroid.

But his eyes constantly watching the stars go by had led him into thinking about that word. Future. What the universe would have in store later on. After all, it was a serious thing to discuss, considering what happened prior to all this. One moment, they were hired by the Soveriegn to guard those batteries from a monster. Next thing he knew, a list of drastic changes:

They were now their mortal enemy, pretty much all of the Ravagers he called family were dead, the supposed father he’s always wanted turns out to have an extremely ironic name and is the reason the woman he loved, as well as the treasures she gave him were destroyed, and how the five man team was a nine man team.

Oh, right.

All of those things, as well as going back to retrieve the Milano, somehow getting that and the Quadrant repaired and combined together at one of Xandar’s best ship shops, and now flying the new twice as big and deadly Milano.

...And most importantly, Yondu was alive and fully healed. Like nothing had ever happened to threaten his life.

Along the lines of that, that was also something Quill felt like was a huge part of the word “future”. The fact that the members of the team had changed so… weirdly.

Like… Kraglin. The guy was super close with him. Even considered him a brother. Yet, a weird feeling of uncomfortable unease was insistently lingering nonstop whenever they were together. The Xandarian would always look at him with a look of regret. He had no clue why. Sure, they still laughed with each other like old times, and the two still had a strong bond with each other. But it was a never ending sadness weaved behind the seams. The biggest guess that Quill had was that Kraglin was devastated behind the mutiny and the family it had taken away. He went out of his way to tell him to not blame himself, but… he just couldn’t get the feeling like Kraglin’s mood dropped even further somehow.

Then there was Nebula. Well, she was an enemy during their fight against Ronan, and she was a “prize” for them. But besides that, Quill really felt like there was no one hundred percent answer on his feelings towards her. Nebula didn’t really… feel like part of the team. She was just kinda there. He did know that some people like Drax were just blatantly indifferent, while others like Rocket were and still were hesitant around her off the bat. But it seemed like she was just… there. That’s it. But she was Gamora’s sister. That was enough of a reason for him to give her a chance here.

Then there was Groot. Holy hell. He was a teenager now, and boy was he a handful. He went from the precious little baby to possibly being one of the most insufferable passengers on the Milano altogether. Don’t get them wrong. Every one of the Guardians loved Groot still. But…. Oi. He refused to nearly trim his branches. So badly to the point where they actually stuck out from past his doorframe to his room. Even worse to the fact that poor Mantis was walking towards the table for breakfast and tripped over one of them, nearly breaking one of her antennas. The amount of times Quill found himself, Gamora, or especially Rocket lecturing him on his behavior, despite him having his face shoved in that video game of his, was baffling. Dear Gawd.

Then there was Mantis. The poor girl was so shy and rather nervous all the time. It certainly isn’t an easy thing, adjusting to a new family. If that’s what you can call this. It’s better than Ego was, that’s for sure. But still. It was rather… funny how she still didn’t get normal behavior and stuff. Her calling Rocket a “crabby puppy” still has him laughing to his day too.

Those were the drastic changes. Sure, there was the strange new behavior of Rocket. You know, where he wasn’t constantly being an jerk all the time and actually was nice every once in a while. There was also Drax and how close he always seemed to be and stay around Mantis the whole time. Gamora with her “unspoken thing” with him (though she would deny this) and the agonizingly slow process of building a bond with her sister, Nebula.

And Yondu. His dad. The captain giving the full reigns to him. Now apart of his team. It was just…. Wow.

So, when the word “future” crossed into his mind, Quill couldn’t help but end up thinking a lot about it. The Guardians were not just some random bunch of jailbreakers turned heroes anymore. They were a work in process; building teamwork, understanding each other, those kinds of things that aren’t simple with normal jailbreakers-

“A-agh… dang it…”

Well, he put too much pressure on his left side again.

Oh, yeah, that’s right. They just had completely a mission and were on their way to Xandar to have a few drinks and relax for a bit. And during said mission, Quill got slammed into the wall several times. How lovely. But hey, they managed to get the item the client wanted and got paid. That counts, right?

Wincing slightly, the Terran ended up shrugging it off and glancing with a bit of a new mouth position to where a frown and scowl ended up being mixed into a blender and then smeared onto his face. That’s a pretty good analogy, right? Cause he hasn’t gotten a better one.

Anyways, because of it, the team had ended up taken a few bad bumps and thus… they were taking a break.

Simple, right?

Suppose that explains why he was thinking about the future of the team slightly.

Ahh, screw it. He’ll figure it out later along with the other Guardians of the Galaxy. The monitor just said only five more minutes to Xandar. Taking a deep breath in an attempt to somehow stay awake more than he was now, Quill leaned forward in anticipation. That new bar that opened up better be worth every drink they got.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, the plot's in motion now. Hope you guys like this so far.
> 
> And yes, Groot is now a teenager for this story. Hopefully, I can do some good stuff with it. :)
> 
> Comments and stuff is appreciated. See you next time~


	4. Wash over me like a Flood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hooray for writing at 4 A.M. Apologies if it's not as strong as the previous three chapters due to that.
> 
> Let's get started.

Oh, heck yeah! This place was so worth the effort. Only one hundred units per person for an entrance fee and refills only around twenty-five? He could get behind this no problem.

The scene was a bar called “The Flood”. Rumor has it that the place was based off of an ancient planet that used to be rich and luxurious; the greatest of all royalties had once thrived on that land. But as time had evolved the planet and changed its habitat, the oceans ended up inevitably growing out of control and turning itself into a straight up water planet. Hearing the legends, many of foolish and greedy men have attempted to dive into the depths of the waters to retrieve the treasures that remain swallowed by the ocean. But it is far too deep and all those who have gone were either forced to turn back or have joined the ocean floor permanently.

Because of this, the planet’s original name has been lost to time and renamed “Flood”. Hence, the bar’s inspiration. Along the walls near the bottom of the floor was painted sparkling gold, with various designs of treasures. The walls secretly had gems which acted as strange stage lights that made the floor shine and glow throughout the location. Above that were normal blue painted walls with slight water effects and various creatures that have been documented living on that planet. Same with the ceiling too. The floor was pure black tiles with glitter that added to the yellow part of the wall, constantly giving you a feeling of walking on top of something valuable.

From the door, it showed multiple tables with high chairs, filled with various occupants of different species. Going towards the left were the booths and dining area if a family had decided to occupy them. Towards the way back was the bar, a beautiful design of a wave as the counter tops. Offering the finest and biggest selection of all kinds of alcohol (at least, that is what they had bragged about in their promotional ads), it certainly had attracted many people towards it. And towards the right, with the accompanying selection of the latest dance music, a dance floor for those who wanted to give their go at showing their moves. It also had a few poles nearby, in case a few customers wanted a little extra from some of the paid “dancers”...

So, the rumor that was mentioned above. It happened to just cross the ears of both Rocket and Quill one day upon stocking up for supplies. They didn’t have the chance to go check it out before. But gosh damn, after that hell of a mission…. They all were wanting to have a good time.

Well, minus Mantis, Kraglin, and Groot, who stayed behind to guard the ship.

Mantis due to having an incident in the past where she freaked a few people out with her powers.

Groot due to being underage, as well as being addicted to some new fighting game that came out.

And Kraglin…. Oddly not wanting to come and just opted to be in charge.

Oh well, Quill thought maybe next time he could come if they switched out ship roles.

And speaking of Quill, that dance floor looked mighty fine right about now.

He really didn’t know what song this was or what in the world kind of species was singing it. Heck, if this were anywhere but a bar, he’d probably turn that crap off and turn on his mixtape. Then again, it was like, the super hardest thing to do ever in the history of anything ever. Trying to top Terran classics. Pretty much impossible.

Or it could be that the few drinks he had of that new Kree Tequila could be really making this music seem better than it was.

Whatever. The song was calling his name, and he had hips to rock right now. Closing his eyes and his top row of teeth grinding against his bottom lip, he was literally giving it all he had in his breakdancing. It also was an added bonus that his injuries had pretty much healed up and his boogie skills were now at its peak.

“Peter… you realize how ridiculous you look right now, correct?”

Gamora honestly couldn’t believe this adult man whom she associated with as her new family was rocking his hips back and forth at a ridiculous manner. An eyebrow raised, the question actually popped out of her vocal chords before she could stop it. But then, she mentally slapped herself; this was Peter Quill she was talking to. Of COURSE he had to know…. And not care.

“What? I’m enjoying myself here,” he turned to her, that iconic half-smirk of his drifting into view.

Gamora scoffed slightly while ignoring the fact her mouth started to turn into a smile.

“And while looking like a fool during the process,” she put in return, “The way that you do this.. ‘Broken-dancing’ is something I’ve never seen anyone be so bold in and proud of.”

“Excuse me! It’s ‘Break-dancing’, thank you!” Quill wagged his finger at her and then did a bit of a spin to the beat of the bass, “And it’s because of my amazing moves that we beat that Ronan guy in the first place. He was simply so dazzled that he couldn’t see how quickly I could think on my feet.”

Gamora found her eyes rolling at that remark and then staring at the ceiling to prevent herself from watching the smug grin being directed at her. Honestly? Even to this day, a little under five years ago since the Battle of Xandar, she couldn’t believe it. Someone defeating Ronan by challenging him to a dance-off? It actually worked. Long enough to give Drax and Rocket enough time to get the Infinity Stone away from the Accuser.

A dance-off.

This man.

Who was currently raising his arms and flailing them wildly.

Her lips regaining their thin line mask helped her show the incredulous expression towards these movements that frankly should embarrass a normal mortal being for doing them in public.

Keyword being should.

“...You ‘quickly thinking on your feet’.”

“Yeah, what of it?”

“The same person who only had twelve percent of a plan for the battle of Ronan. Is that not correct?”

Quill’s lips twisted into a deformed, comically-looking shape upon hearing her remind him that for the upteenth time.

“Seriously, do you guys have to constantly remind me of that? I mean, we- no, you know what? Never mind that. We’re having fun tonight! We don’t need to ruin it by getting into an argument. Come on, join me on the dance floor, Gamora.”

“I’d rather not embarrass myself, Peter, but thank you,” she declined, folding her arms.

What happened as of a result of her words was the Terran tsking at her and looking away with a look that just screamed ‘whatever’.

“You’re just mad that I showed off my dance moves to Xandar and it ended up saving the universe, and you were too nervous to do it with me.”

Now, normally, this would be some kind of a comment that she could shrug off. You know how Quill was. How much of a moron he could come off as. Especially when she got after him and Rocket for destroying the ship due to their pride while they were escaping the Sovereign, he made that comment about if his private parts were able to steer a ship or something completely asinine. It was just a dumb comment. Nothing more than simple teasing.

Then why….

Why was it something that was really getting to her?

And wouldn’t you know it? Said moron actually saw that crack in her act and began to smirk again. She cursed herself mentally upon letting him get the upper hand on her. Even sending him a death glare didn’t stop the smirk from increasing in size.

But truth be told, it honestly amazed her how unpredictable he was, nearly surprising her every day in almost every way.

“Ahh, I totally hit the nail on the head, didn’t I? You’re jealous of my moves. Hey, no worries; it’s cool with me. We can’t always be the best at everything, Gamora,” Quill teased, wiggling his eyebrows as he began swaying back and forth with the beat.

….Curse.

This.

Pelvic.

Sorcery.

“Move over. Now.”

With that, Gamora pushed herself off of the wall she was leaning against and began to make her way into the dance floor. Closing her eyes in order to focus on the beat allowed her to finally get her body’s movements coordinated with the beat. Also to ignore whoever might be staring. And also the dumbass grin on his face.

“....See, there’s totally an unspoken thing between us.”

“Shut up, Peter.”

After her voice quickly denied him, though having no effect on his confirmation of the situation, a laugh had bellowed out which rang throughout the whole bar. The two of them didn’t even need to turn their heads to know who that infamous laugh belonged too. They were hoping that he wasn’t too drunk. Asking for him to not be drunk would be just stupid of you, you know?

“Haaaahahaha!! Another one has fallen defeated to my glorious arm muscles!”

The poor victim who even thought that it was a remotely smart idea to challenge the savage brute ended up being flown across the bar and somehow skidding out the door. Poor bastard didn’t know what hit him. Hopefully, the bouncers realized he had already paid his entrance fee and don’t charge him a second time. Meanwhile, the group of men that had been watching the now finished arm wrestle stared back to the man who roared his victory to the whole bar.

Drax.

His lightened and eerily jovial eyes ended up scanning the group with a grin as he sat back down in his chair.

“Now that I have vanquished the latest challenger, I welcome the next brave man to sit down and test their strength with the one that helped defend this planet!” he bellowed, perhaps the alcohol level a bit too much in his bloodstream…?

All of the men that had been staring in awe with their jaws open had sweat suddenly appear on their faces. Hell no, they weren’t suffering the same fate as that idiot who just went. Every single one of those men who stood there valued their health way too much to throw it away like that. And yet, every single one of them were begging for someone in the group to volunteer and take one for the ‘team’ if you will. The fear of no one accepting the warrior’s request would possibly anger him, especially in a slightly drunken state. So if they didn’t hurry-

“It seems every single one of these men are spineless, Drax. Perhaps you would be willing to have a special kind of challenger.”

The silky, yet hardened voice cut through their fear and caused everyone to turn around near the booth areas. Nebula had been bored this entire time. She had been through her fair share of bars. Had an occasional drink or so. Not really was able to spend a lot of time in them due to Thanos controlling her entire life or her servitude under Ronan the Accuser alongside Korath-Thak the Pursuer.

So, when that Terran fool named ‘Star-Lord’, or ‘Peter’ and ‘Quill’ as Gamora and the others had been calling him, had announced that they were going to take a break at a local bar for the night and then figure out their next move after for some rest and relaxation, she really didn’t know how to feel or think. She had been one of the fortunate ones to come out with barely any injuries. But her sister had agreed with such a strong passion, something she’d never had been given before in her life. Someone caring for her. In order to not destroy it, she had stuffed her objections down into her throat and went along with the plan. If Gamora wanted her to take it easy, then...

But now here she was; sitting in a bar absolutely bored shitless out of her mind at some loud, idiotic looking place as a ‘good night out’. To think she could be plotting how to kill Thanos at this time instead of this time-wasting endeavor.

Which brought her out of her thoughts when that person went sailing past her outside the establishment. Her eyes and ears immediately knew of Drax. She had found herself thinking back to how during their fight against Ego, the man had stated that she wasn’t apart of the family. And she would’ve agreed. But time has changed since then, and Drax had said to her face that he considered her close enough to be in the Guardians’ family. And she had the utmost, growing rate of respect for him out of anyone, besides her sister. He also had a strong bloodlust for Thanos’ life to end, and she would gladly have him assist her in killing him. His skills were undoubtedly proven when she had inevitably found out that he was also Korath’s killer. Her former ally was no weak pawn, so for that man who was guffawing and boasting his strength like an egotistically-bloated fool to take him down… he would be useful in ending Thanos.

But his words had intrigued her enough for her boredom to be erased.

Drax had realized that it was her that stepped up to his challenge.

“Ahh… sister of my good friend Gamora! So you are eager to take me up on my challenge of testing one’s arm strength!”

His bellowing caused her to move without realizing it, making her way towards the table.

“Let me make this clear; I’m not going to be brushed aside so easily like these men might be,” she said, her voice and fierceness not wavering, “If you do not take me seriously, you will lose.”

With a bam, Drax’s elbow firmly planted its position onto the surface. His eyes, once filled with nothing but empty hatred and vengeance, are now eagerly anticipating a delightful game with a fellow member of his family. A grin hiding behind constantly shifting lips, he watched her give her non-robotic arm to him in the same position across from him as both sat in their chairs. Her dark eyes showing no emotion, her body betrayed it by waiting for the start.

“Let us have a splendid battle, Nebula!”

“Don’t hold back.”

“Gah… can you believe him? Boasting like a freakin’ moron...”

The gruff and grumpy voice of Rocket came from the bar as he and Yondu were sitting there and had turned around, surveying the scene for a little bit. Both with rather heavy drinks, the two had been chatting and hanging out. Ever since the Centurion’s death had been avoided and gave leadership up to the Terran, he had become sort of a mentor for the Guardians. He lent out advice and strategies to the younger members from his Ravager days as a way to strengthen the teamwork between all nine members, and as a result, their preventability of injuries had risen.

And from those days, Rocket and Yondu had become really close friends. Not that the furry man would ever replace his relationship with Groot, mind you, but it was definitely a close second.

“You see what I have to go through, Yondu? This is the guy that constantly goes out of his way to frustrate me with his flarkin’ stupidity, I swear to you! And now he uses that bug-girl on me, too! Making her constantly try to pet me or calling me a ‘crabby puppy’...” Rocket ended up complaining, his hands waving with emotion packed into it.

A chuckle escaped out of Yondu’s smile.

“You gotta cut her some slack. Before we came ‘round, that jackass of a ‘father’ for Quill that she lived with was all she had when it came to constant social interaction. Not even those children before their demise gave her enough of a grasp on how to mingle with folks. So, she’s learnin’ with us,” he explained, glancing at the raccoon before going back to Drax, “She is gettin’ better, I’ll give her that. But she’s still rough 'round the edges. So just give it time.”

Literally everything he had was what it took to keep a snarky reply or deep growl from escaping from the depths of his lungs after his mind had thought about it. Rocket couldn’t help but agree with that.

You see, ever since their adventures upon the Ravager mutiny, Rocket had ended up really taking a look into himself. After those seven hundred jumps, a thing that they and the other two who were there swore to never speak of again, the ex-Ravager captain had torn through the tough ‘professional asshole’ persona he thought could never been broken and laid into him. Being able to perfectly read why he acted the way he did, exposing the loneliness that was creating a huge hole in him, even knowing about…. those people.

Like… Quill had been able to do that with that sentence about “his goal being to get everyone to hate him” before leaving with the others and Ego, but Yondu took it to a whole level.

Now Rocket always prided himself at being in control. Even in an argument, win or lose, or when his temper was on the rage, he always made sure he never showed any weakness. But the constant barrage of truth laid down on him caused the fear and shame to bubble up to the surface where him screaming the words “I’m serious, dude!” came off like a joke. He never realized that someone like Yondu could have such a painful past and be like him. Or rather, he didn’t want to think that someone could understand him and such.

His words had really made him think long and hard about himself and his attitude towards the other Guardians. He was… not scared, but… hesitant to let others besides Groot get close to him. But this guy who apparently kidnapped Star-munch as a kid… wasn’t that bad.

That’s why after he shot Gamora with his gun to knock her out as they were escaping Ego, he just stopped in the middle of the sentence he was speaking.

“I’m sorry… but I can only allow one friend… to…”

...And why the hell did he have to allow even one friend to die?

It was pure selfishness, he knew; Yondu wanted to atone for all he’s done, and by saving Quill and sacrificing himself, that’d be a very hard thing not to consider as his redemption. But…

Rocket… finally found someone he could relate to. Sure, he loved those times flying around with Quill in the skies, playing with Groot when he was bored, and… sure, the other Guardians weren’t that bad, but this man was just like him. Not only that, but Quill and that Kraglin guy also cared about him; it wasn’t his choice to make to prevent a chance to save him.

Then again, it wasn’t his choice to stop Yondu’s original plan…

So… yeah, it was selfish. But then again, Rocket is a selfish man. And quickly dragging Gamora out of the area and safely to the ship, he sprinted to his room to get an extra space suit he didn’t bring with him initially, put one on for himself, and thus the rest has been explained.

Well, that, and thanking Yondu multiplied a billion fold for explaining how he saved him to the others, specifically Gamora, so that any wrath or pain she was thinking about inflicting onto him would hopefully be avoided. It was, to his surprise and happiness, though he couldn’t help but give a very sheepish smile and back up slightly as she gave him a pass yet warned him to never do that to her again or there would be repercussions.

And following the few days at the hospital to heal the damage space had given on his skin, whenever he wasn’t with Groot or the ex-Ravager wasn’t with Quill or Kraglin, the two ended up constantly hanging out. And due to this, Yondu sort of became Rocket’s coach to help him in situations. A way to improve his relationships with the others and work on his attitude. And frankly, he thought upon bringing it up about his few (hah, “few”) gripes about Drax once the two decided to watch him fling random people out the door via an… ahem…. ‘Arm wrestling contest’.

“But like, how do I get her to stop? That’s what I mean, you know. Like, I- it’s just, aah! Just annoying how she constantly tries to pet me, dude! I hate people touching me like that…” Rocket said, ranting with his free arm waving about before taking a drink.

“Well, now… seems like quite the situation you find yourself in. But lemme ask ya this, Rocket,” the man next to him responded, “For all the complainin’ you’ve done, have ya even tried to talk with her about it?”

It was like a dagger was thrown through the air and stabbed right into the weak point of Rocket’s grief. He scratched his face with a face that gave Yondu a knowing smirk. Bastard already knew the answer, but damn, he just didn’t want to give him the satisfaction just yet.

“I have…”

“Really?”

“Yeah!”

“No bullshittin’?”

“Multiple times, man!”

“As in not just snappin’ at her in the heat of the moment and actually goin’ out of your way to discuss it with her?”

Rocket’s ears bent back as he mumbled, its volume increasing thusly upon Yondu’s squealing start of a laugh.

“Screw you, ‘Mr. Blue Sky’...”

“Screw you too, ‘Ranger Rick’,” Yondu shot back at him, leaning back to exchange friendly name-calling as the two began to lighten up with their pearly… ehhh…. white and yellows showing.

After a bit of a chuckle between the two, he cleared his throat.

“But in all seriousness, you gotta learn to communicate with the people you live with. You can’t just snap at her and let Drax over there laugh alongside her, makin’ her think the whole thing was a joke or okay. If it really bothers ya, go to Mantis herself and actually talk it out with her. Explain why you don’t like it and I’m sure she’ll listen. After all, she’s the nicest one of us all; no denyin’ that fact.”

Freaking naive as all hell and with no ability to think for herself as long as that muscle-brained brute was around her, sure; Rocket wouldn’t deny that. But, it was true he had never even tried. Dammit, why did this have to make sense?

“Ahhh, fine, fine, flark it. I’ll give it a go with her and see if it works,” the smaller Guardian scratched the back of where his left ear joined at his skull.

A satisfied nod was his answer.

“Alright. And the other question?”

Okay, here we go. The big one. This was going to get touchy really fast. And was he really thankful that the music was so loud and Gamora was danc- Gamora was dancing? Gamora was actually danc- Err. Upon seeing that out of the corner of his eyes with a slight ‘what the fuck’ face sprouting out of nowhere, he shook his head with his eyebrows up way high and silent acceptance. But yeah. Music being loud enough for her to hear as well as busy… dancing… to hear what he was going to say.

“Look… I ain’t gonna sugar-coat this, okay? It’s about… her.”

Yondu was no fool and didn’t need any elaboration to know that the assassin was the person his friend was talking about. The eyes danced across the bar floor to see the crowd that was surrounding the table had gotten tense. Both Nebula, the one they were speaking of, and the current intoxicated champion Drax were in the heat of the moment. With teeth baring at the other, neither seemed to be having the upper hand and had been struggling for a good while to overpower the other.

“I mean…. I know she’s Gamora’s sister and all that, but… like, come on. You know where I’m going with this, right? She tried to help that Kree guy destroy an entire planet and then helped the mutiny with that stupid Tas-”

“Hang on there just a sec, boy.”

Yondu’s sharp interruption caused Rocket’s words to come screeching to a halt. Kind of hilarious since he was trying to say the name that would actually cause him to sputter into a laugh, but it soon fizzled down to a perplexing confusion that scowled up at the older man. His tail swished behind him as he prepared to hear what the countering cut-in would be like.

Yondu had stopped to take a swig of his drink. The gulps showing as his throat showed up and down movements, he wiped his mouth and cleared his throat.

“Now I can understand… if you have some grievances against that woman over there, but you’re already gettin’ the facts wrong. She didn’t help cause the mutiny; she took advantage of it for her benefit.”

“Wha- That’s basically the same thing, dude!” Rocket snapped back, a twisted yet sharp look on his face mixing further.

The older man coughed out a gruff noise with an amused look in his eyes, pretty much signaling how he anticipated the outburst and sudden denial by his friend, “Sure, they got similarities, but not the same. She wasn’t there when that old dirty mug Taserface starting whisperin’ to my men about me going soft, she wasn’t helpin’ to convince them to join their cause, or nothing of the sort. All she did was take advantage of how the thing happened to begin with, and that’s the end of that, as far as I see it.”

“What the- Why the flark are you giving her a pass? Like she’s excused for the crap she’s done? She tried to kill us, Yondu; helping incapacitate us to send us and Groot off to those golden blocks that want our heads,” Rocket pressed further, his body leaning towards him, “Did ya happen to forget that part?”

“Lemme counter that with another question. Wouldn’t you have done the same?” Yondu looked over at him.

Rocket’s snarl had turned into a shocked wall of horror as his ears slightly folded back.

“Wh-wha-”

“You heard me. If we hadn’t bonded in that there cell back there, and ya got the chance to grab the twig and book out as fast as ya could out of there, wouldn’t you have done the same thing?”

The developing heart of the little guy sank upon this thing. At least at this point of time? Yeah, it scared the hell out of him to think he’d abandon Yondu behind. But at that time? Yeah…. If he had found an opening to escape and run back to the Guardians on Ego, he would’ve. Can’t say for sure if they would’ve survived if things went down that way, but at least… he could say he was right.

“Because I sure as hell would’ve dunnit. In fact, actually am rather impressed she managed to get the drop on the both of us back there that night. Never saw it comin’,” Yondu went on, his eyes darting back to the arm wrestling match, “But forget that. The past is just that; the past. Sure, she did that to us and helped that insane bastard Kree and Glodark knows whatever else she’s done, but I ain’t no better than her. Kids died cause of me, Rocket. And I’m sure that every person in this team, no matter if one’s worse than the other, has done something that they don’t feel like recreatin’. Even my idgit boy over there, who’s makin’ himself look like a fool.”

With that, the two glanced over at the rather horrid display of what you would call ‘dancing’ as they looked back at each other with a grimace. Yondu cleared his throat.

“But I think that woman over there, the one he keeps goin' on and off with, has a point with what she said. Remember?”

Rocket looked down and nodded when he kept fiddling with his drink and making it swirl in the glass.

“We may not be perfect, but we are moving down a path where we can become good people,” he recited.

“So… with that bein’ said ‘n all, I think we oughta go back to drinkin’. But just remember, ‘kay? Even she can be like us; tryin’ hard and, as Quill says it, ‘to give a shit’,” the Centurion reminded, doing what he could to keep the mind at ease during the ‘fun trip’.

This of course was completely derailed as a huge yell, obviously from the vocal chords of Drax, shot out throughout the bar. Before the two could actually look back at them, the huge brute came sailing right next to them, slamming into the underside of the bar. He had been tossed from a huge distance and with a lot of force.

But wait… wasn’t he-

The chorus of cheers and whistles came from the crowd gathered around that table. And Nebula had just started to put her arm down. Those black eyes staring right at him, even an degenerate could deduce that she had won the contest. And despite being bested, Drax ended up standing on his feet, gaping at her with shocked eyes… and then bursting out into a roaring laughter. He joined the clapping, actually helping to form the tiniest of proud smirks onto the assassin’s face. At least, there was no violence, but…. Oh, boy. Just another typical night for the Guardians in their off-time.

“Ggh… flarkin’ idiot,” Rocket shook his head and leaned his head back to finish his drink, earning a laugh from Yondu.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

You know… in his “illustrious” career, Nova has taken on many challenges.

He’s defeated monsters. Taken on planet-size armies. Stopped catastrophes on a universal scale.

And now being tasked to find some random scientist and convince them to somehow leave their home planet to help with the research of a huge black box. And there’s not even a remotely close percentage of if said person could help to begin with. Purely wonderful.

So, as he brought in front of Nova Prime herself, he immediately realized how desperate the situation was. Just as bad as when the Battle of Xandar happened and he was too far away in another region of space to get there in time. Just another reason he respected the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Ravagers for what they did.

But tasked with his current mission, he had no clue where to start. Initially. The brain ended up pumping a message to him that was well worth a try: Terra.

It was kind of funny when he thought back at it. Having to learn the whole thing of Earth being Terra, and humans were Terrans and all that jazz. But honestly, what else of a start could he think of? All the planets he thought of that had contained the most intelligent minds had already failed in this mission that had been done and he was already with limited options. Therefore, why not try his home planet? See if there was someone they could borrow?

But he needed someone that he could trust to help get him a chance to speak.

And his good ol’ buddy, Captain Marvel, did the trick.

The woman managed to get the attention of Nick Fury himself and brief him about the mission.

Before they knew it, they were in the lab where a lot of the Chitauri research was underway and walking up to the head of the place. Which, by the way, had shocked Nova; he didn’t know that the alien race had recently attacked his planet… this was something he needed to bring up to Nova Prime when he returned.

Anyways, many of the scientists were staring; it’s often you don’t see the head of S.H.I.E.L.D walking into the workplace everyday. And not with two heroes, one being the Captain Marvel. As the trio ended up getting closer, Nova had turned to the man.

“Thank you for allowing me the chance to ask you for help,” he thanked.

Fury nodded with barely any effort and kept his eyes straight.

Nova, rather perturbed by not even an answer, turned his focus to the woman next to him.

“Is he always like this?”

“Yes, and I’d be lying if I said ‘you’ll get used to it’,” Captain Marvel smirked, not even being remotely bothered by the grumpy glare she was given back.

Shrugging it off, Nova watched as they approached the head scientist.

“Oh! Hello, sir! It’s good to see you this morning,” he said, fixing his glasses before bowing to the other two, “And the same to you two; it’s a pleasure to have heroes like you visit us.”

“Cut the extended greetings for now. We came here for one of your men,” Fury stated straight to the point, folding his arms.

The man straightened and raised an eyebrow.

“My… men, sir?”

With this part, Captain Marvel decided to intervene and motion to Nova.

“Nova is currently on a mission from another planet where they need a researcher to help take in the study of an unknown object. They’ve exhausted their options and are looking for any kind of help at the moment,” she said.

A nod to confirm it, the man asked, “And am I to assume that whoever I send here will be going out into space with you?”

When he received a full set of nods back, he ended up chuckling to their surprise. Putting his hands on his waist, he sighed and smiled at them.

“You know…. Normally, this would be the part where I would have to run through my entire staff to choose who I’d allow to go, but… I don’t feel like I have to do that. One name immediately pops up in my mind.”

Fury only slightly tilted his head as his eye narrowed.

“You mean…?”

“Yo, boss!”

The familiar, lazy-sounding voice rang out as the group turned to look past Fury’s left. Out came strolling Morse, with his signature smile and weird get up. It was quite the comical viewpoint, considering that both super-heroes ended up having a face of uncertainty when watching some weird big guy come walking over in a labcoat. While wearing sandals. Just… something about that was weird.

But what had really gotten their attention and wiped that look off their faces was that he was holding a bit of what seemed to be a rifle…

“Hold on to your clipboard for this, okay? You know the pieces you sent me this morning? About helping me with the discovery of the rifle? Turns out we’re wrong. They are not from a weapon; they are from a gravitational reverting system, used to impulse their ships. By creating an opposite gravitational field to that of the planet the ship is…”

With a fluid motion, Morse ended up gently tossing the piece out of his hand. The piece suddenly came to life, hovering over the ground slowly as weird, unstable blue rings of energy constantly went back and forth between it and the floor. As time passed, the piece began to make a safe and slow descent to the ground. It apparently had caused any scientist watching the group to crowd the five into a circle. Once the piece had finished its journey downward and defeating gravity’s pull, Morse continued his statement.

“...It creates a safe and stable ‘magnet’, allowing landings to become easier.”

Obviously sending a bit of a smile to the trio, the head scientist goated the younger guy to continue.

“Amazing! To think that the Chitauri had this kind of capabilities…”

“Actually, asking me honestly? I don’t even think they realize the potential of their stuff. I mean, this was part of a weapon they used. A gun. Maybe they’re not aware of what they can do, but ehhh,” Morse said, bending over with a loud groan to pick up the piece and turning to him with it in his grasp, “But think what we could use with this, you know? Airplane crashes or rocket ship failures and their fatal injury counts could be a thing of the past if we incorporated this kind of technology onto them. Safe travels would actually be guaranteed. The fear of dying would not exist anymore. Honestly… that’d be cool to see.”

With his statement finished, a bunch of the scientists began muttering amongst each other about this potential breakthrough. How funny, he thought. The same guys who were talking behind his back were now praising him. Considering how he was a pie-

Wait… why is Fury there?

Oddly enough, Morse had finished his statement with both hands out to his side and a tired smile on his mouth. Seeing that his boss was just smiling with pride at him, it struck him odd how the conversation just kinda died right there. But then… it all came together.

There were two colorful costumed people standing behind him with Fury next to them.

Amusing to the two heroes, Morse ended up moving only his upper half towards the group upon noticing them. Not only that, he blinked like only once. You think that someone would freak out when they saw two superheroes. Already, this kid was proving he wasn’t like the rest.

Especially when he began to nod his head and used his left index finger to point at them.

“Niiiiice costumes,” he spoke to them in a casual tone, before cheerfully smiling at the man who recruited him, “See, Fury? They know how to do costumes right and not look like a Matrix reject. Take notes.”

A laugh came from Captain Marvel as she grinned, “Yeah, Fury; you can learn a thing or two from us when it comes to cool designs.”

Ignoring the serious death glare the man was giving towards the guy, Nova couldn’t stop the smirk he was having grow on his face. Yeah… he may not be the one, but this kid might do. It was worth a shot to try it…

“Well… I’m not an expert in science or what not, but… I believe we may have found our guy.”

Upon hearing that, Morse actually nodded his head with a smiling duckface before grinning back.

“Hey, that’s cool, man. Good to hear. Just two questions after this one?”

His grin disappeared as he cocked his head with an expression that seemed like it was failing to comprehend what really was going on.

“Who are you again, and what are you talking about…?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus, things are starting to go into the plot.
> 
> Once again, comments are appreciated! Thanks for reading, everybody.


	5. Job offers over tea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I'm back.  
> Enjoy.

There were many times where she was told not to worry. That he had it under control. But that was something he needed to understand.

It’s a mother’s job to worry about her child.

And while he was technically an adult, Britt Morse would always worry about him.

It had been an interesting life raising him ‘til now. Many ups and downs, but overall a good kid. By lately, it was a bit of a down area. A lot of the time lately. She couldn’t help but worry about many of the aspects of his life currently.

Especially since once again this morning, he was pushing it close to being late to work… again.

She couldn’t help thinking about him as she walked into the kitchen on the early morning transitioning into afternoon.

Like, the amount of soda he drank was troubling. She was thankful it wasn’t an addiction like alcohol, but it didn’t make it better. Neither was the amount of snack food he ate over quality, healthy meals. It would explain how big he was. And then there was the claim of him getting a good night’s sleep on a regular basis, but him constantly looking exhausted or his face flushed. Morse always had his cheeks and ears flush red whenever he was tired, and lately they were nearly all the time.

That was just the issues that she knew of with one hundred percent certainty. There were mainly three issues that always concerned her.

The first being that it seemed like her baby always seemed to hide something whenever she was around; she didn’t know why, but…

The second was what happened with his previous job at the gas station before working at S.H.I.E.L.D. She knew mainly why it was terrible, and yet it felt like he was still hurting…

And then, of course…

The feeling of vibrations against her leg removed her from being lost in thought. Her phone was ringing in her sweatpants. This was the beginning of her vacation week, so she had decided to just stay at home. But she always kept her phone on her at all times. Just in case someone like her son, husband, or someone else called.

And as she just finished her lunch and put the dishes in the dishwasher, she found that said son was calling her. Draping her finger across the lock screen and tapping the green phone button allowed her to answer his call.

“Hello?”

 _“Why, hello, mom,”_ her son’s tired voice came on the other end.

 

“Hey, sweetie. How are you doing?” she smiled, asking him that.

 

_“Oh, fine. Just another day in paradise, right? Working for the government, experimenting on alien thingies; the life everyone wants.”_

 

“Yes, I’m sure,” Britt chuckled, before looking upward, “So, what’s up? Is there a reason you called me?”

 

_“Whaaaat, I can’t say ‘hello’ to my lovely mother whom I love more than life itself?”_

 

She looked down unimpressed at that. Sure, she knew he meant that. But there was always an ulterior motive for Morse calling her during his work shift. Whether it was asking for her to get something as a favor, asking what dinner would be, or just to get out of working by chatting with her, he never called during the day to just chat. And after waiting a bit, it seemed he knew she wasn’t buying it, for a wheezing laugh came out of the other end.

 

 _“Oh man, I guess you’re ‘wise to my lies’,”_ he coughed harshly before chuckling softly.

 

“Of course I am, turkey lips,” she grinned, “I’m your momma, after all.”

 

_“You know what? You’re right. And when you’re right, you’re always right!”_

 

She deadpanned slightly at this; she hated how he, as well as her new husband, would tease her about this. Rolling her eyes allowed her the chance to think about what to say and to continue the conversation.

 

“Har har… so, talk to me. Why are you calling me during work? And only one hour in at that?”

 

_“Well, o’ mother of mine, let’s just say something ‘unusual’ happened at work and I’ve been requested to talk to you asap.”_

 

“Requested- ...Oh goodness, honey, please tell me you didn’t get fired,” the mom felt dread rush up to her face, both in sadness of her son losing such an important job.

 

 _“What? No, I’m not fired; geez, mom, such confidence in your child…”_ he said with a deadpan tone of voice, with her almost being able to see him staring at her with his incredulous face, _“It’s actually a good thing, and that, I promise, ain’t no lie.”_

 

That definitely got her attention, as well as eliminated said dread and replaced it with happiness.

 

“Oh, really? Like what?”

 

_“Hmmm… I…. guess you could call it a ‘special opportunity’. Maybe even a ‘promotion’ if you look at it from a certain angle.”_

 

“Really? Oh, that’s wonderful, sweetie! I told you that you could do it; you’re so smart and talented!” she leaned against the refrigerator and was beaming from ear to ear, “So, tell me what it is!”

 

She raised an eyebrow in confusion hearing his voice extend with a screeching, monotone note. As if he was nervous to talk to her about it, or that he didn’t know how to word it. Said confirmation ended up being the latter during his response.

 

_“Ahhhhh, well. You see, that’s the thing. My boss and I would like to talk to you about it in more detail. Apparently, it’s not that simple. And despite being an adult myself… I feel like you, Mr. Logan, and dad should also know what it is before I make a decision, you know?”_

 

Britt instantly felt conflicted about that. On one hand, she could feel a small sense of pride. This was the first time in a long time that her son was stepping up and taking responsibility to do something without being told.

 

The other hand, however, was the major part of conflicted.

 

The way Morse was talking was… stiff. Felt like it was practiced. Talking in a way he normally wouldn’t.

 

Something was up.

 

Folding her arms, she looked up and found her voice, “Oh, okay… well, when does your employer want to discuss this with me?”

 

_“Well, that depends. Are you decent right now?”_

 

That question instantly surprised her.

 

“Huh? Why are you asking if I’m decent when I’m at home?”

 

Suddenly, a knock on the door ripped her vision from the ceiling…

 

….Oh, no, don’t tell her-

 

Ignoring the disbelief at what was just happening, she was decent. She had a good t-shirt on, sweatpants, and her Hello Kitty slippers. And it wasn’t like she was disgusting; she had taken a shower, so her hair in a ponytail and her bangs covering her glasses-wearing blue eyes was clean. But other than her wedding ring, she wasn’t exactly willing to have a discussion with her son’s boss like this.

 

Yet, the disbelief of what may be actually propelled her forward towards the front door. The moment she grabbed the handle, Morse spoke into the phone.

 

_“Oh, that’s simple. The reason why is-”_

 

She opened the door and pulled it open to see….. a truly unexpected sight.

 

There her son stood, with his clothing he wore for four days in a row, holding his nearly worn out plastic ‘lunch bag’ and his phone near his face…. with Nick Fury to his right, his boss to the left, and the Captain Marvel and another superhero-looking person wearing a giant yellow metal helmet with a red decal on it behind him. Behind them were several United States government vehicles and a bunch of armed soldiers, guarding their property. And from what she could tell past all of them, a whole lot of neighbors crowded outside within a good distance to watch the whole spectacle. Obviously curious on what the hell was going on.

 

The moment he realized his mom opened the door, Morse’s sly, lazy smile came across his face. He lowered his arm holding the phone to lower his gaze down. Hitting the hang up button, he stuffed the phone into his hoodie pocket.

 

He moved his hands towards the side of his body, as if he was shrugging, and flashed a bigger variation of the smile he had now.

 

“-oh, hey. You are decent; good to know,” his voice calmly spoke, as if what was going on was nothing extraordinary, “Sorry to just barge over here like this, mom… but from what I’m told…”

 

He trailed off, smiling towards Fury and motioned with his hand to finish the sentence. Obviously not impressed, a loud huff escaped as he hardened his look towards the mother.

 

“It needs to be discussed now. This is a matter of great importance.”

 

“So I kind of… invited the people who need to talk to you about it over,” Morse said, finishing the thought with a cheerful, yet relaxed face, a hand raising near his mouth as if to illustrate his point.

 

What timing her son had, dear gawd.

 

If it wasn’t for her being more alert than she was actually showing, she would’ve let the phone slide out of her hands and smash its frame onto the wooden floor. It would’ve garnered a laugh out of her son as well as embarrass her further over the fact that superheroes and government agents were outside her house at the moment.

 

All shock had disappeared instantly, however, the moment she adjusted the grip on her device. It was replaced with a split second of anger for wishing to lecture her son for pulling this kind of a stunt. But basically accepting her fate was what the emotion ended up morphing into. She sighed and turned back into the house, calling out into it.

 

“Dale Logan? We have some visitors; you might wanna make another batch and add five more cups for the tea we’re brewing,” she said, turning around and walking towards the kitchen.

 

Oh, Mr. Logan was here? Hot damn, even better!

 

Morse looked over his right shoulder to the other four standing near him, and with a small smile, kicked his sandals off his feet as he entered the house. He motioned for all of them to enter, putting his right hand on the left side of his mouth as if he was whispering to them.

 

“Ohh, you’re in luck. Mom and Mr. Logan make the best tea around.” he ‘fake-whispered’ before shrugging and facing forward, “Now let’s hope this conversation doesn’t go to shit…”

 

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

 

_He stands there watching as they drag Tullk across the floor. The poor man’s been beaten head to toe like shit. He watched it, too. Pretty sure the poor guy had all of his ribs broken with how he was gasping like some damn fish out of water. Even more so when they threw him in the airlock and he looked so stiff and broken attempting to stand up and smash his tired fists into the wall cutting him off from his only escape of death._

 

_He looked even more like a fish gasping the moment they spaced him and he went limp like everybody else._

 

_The look of horror and helplessness on Tulik’s face when the life in his eyes died made him want to scream his throat out. Watching him suffocating, freezing, and dying made him want to burst into tears. Seeing the Ravagers mocking him as he died, especially that one waving goodbye and making faces at him with his tongue sticking out, made him want to throw up._

 

_He never wanted this. All he wanted was Yondu to stop giving Quill preferential treatment compared to the other men on the ship. He didn’t mean to start a damn mutiny-_

 

_“No! Captain, help me! Please! Captain!”_

 

_Oblo’s begging destroyed everything within his chest. He had condemned every single Ravager that stayed loyal to the Captain to death. And the last two were the real gut-punchers. His two life-long friends, and now they’re dying because of him._

 

_The worst part is he can’t even look up to watch Oblo’s final moments like he did with Tullk._

 

_He can’t even muster the strength or honor to look the Captain in the face after what he did. Oblo deserved to look at him; not him, though._

 

_He doesn’t; it’s all his fault._

 

_His fault._

 

_His fault._

 

_His fault his fault his fault his fault his fault his fault his fault his fa-_

 

“Kraglin?”

 

His name breaking through the two repeated words was enough to shatter him successfully out of the flashback of that damned day.

 

Jerking up, Kraglin took a look at his surroundings. He was back at the cockpit of the newly upgraded and twice as big Milano. Specifically, sitting in the captain’s seat, since Quill or Yondu wasn’t around. He had dozed off since he felt his body ache from the awkward position it had been in during his nightmarish slumber.

 

That, and he felt a cool, wet line of drool on the side of his mouth.

 

Wiping it off with his left hand along with visually checking to make sure there wasn’t any on the seat or control panel (because seriously, Quill and that Rocket person get peeved when that happens occasionally), the Xandarian brought his gaze besides the seat to see the person who woke him up.

 

Mantis.

 

The young girl fidgeted slightly and was playing with her fingers slightly, a worried frown plastered on her face. She watched as he sat up and rubbed his eyes.

 

“I am sorry. I did not know you were sleeping,” she apologized, bowing slightly.

 

Kraglin groaned and opened an eye to look at her with a tired face.

 

“Nah, it’s ok,” he whispered at first, before being slightly louder, “Wasn’t meanin’ t’ dose off anyhow…”

 

Mantis nodded and seemed as if she was hesitant to speak. This lasted for only a split second when she began to be brave and go for it.

 

“I could understand that. When I came into the room, you seemed as if you were experiencing emotional pain. I do not know what you have gone through to suffer so, but from what I felt for the moment I touched you, it was very sad.”

 

Well, crud. A sigh escaped out of Kraglin. He knew the girl had a pure heart and only wanted to help, but this was his problem. Of course, he was gonna have more tact about it than others on the ship, like Rocket trying to bite her or Gamora calmly threatening to break her wrist if she did it again. Speaking of which…

 

His other eye opened, feeling the body and mind start to fully wake itself up, and readjusted himself on the seat while he talked, “I ‘ppreciate ya tryin’ t’ care and wake me up, girlie. I really do. But I thought we all had a talk ‘bout ya usin’ yer powers without consent…?”

 

A flash of guilt spread across the bug girl’s face. Obviously, she forgot… again.

 

“I… am sorry,” she bowed with a sad frown, “I often do forget that I overstep boundary lines and break my promise while wishing to help others. I am most sorry, Kraglin; I shall try harder to remember that.”

 

A small smile crossed the Xandarian’s face. It was nice to see someone in the group remember manners. Obviously, Mantis was the kindest member of the group, but naive and forgetful as all hell. But she wasn’t dumb, and despite not being helpful in battle (hell, he wasn’t either), she had managed to keep up with the gang and that was impressive on its own merits.

 

He nodded to her, signaling he had forgiven her and gotten her to cheer up… but then scrunched his forehead and eyebrows in confusion. Wait, wasn’t she supposed to…

 

“Wait a minute. Weren’t ya playin’ those video gamin’ whazzits with Groot?” he asked, jabbing a thumb back towards the walking tree’s room.

 

It seemed like it wasn’t a smart move on his call, considering how much the girl deflated.

 

“Oh…. it appears Groot got very angry with me. I do not know what I have done, but I was not too good at playing the video games. I kept losing, and for some reason, he pushed me out of his room while yelling ‘I am Groot’ at me. I must admit I am very confused, yet saddened; I do not know what he even said to me, which strengths my desire to one day understand his three word language.”

 

Ahhh, so that’s what it is.

 

Welp, judging from her story, it was quite evident what the problem was. Groot’s being a sore winner again. See, now in his ‘teenager years’ and no longer the innocent thumb-sized child he was, the ‘twig’ (as Yondu calls him) had gotten a rather swollen head when it came to video games. He had become quite a master at them. So much to the point where no one in the ship could beat him. Not even Quill, and that guy had a talent for things like that.

 

But the negative part of that was the flora colossus would become angry if his non-cpu opponent didn’t offer a challenge. He would refuse to face them if they kept losing, and thus go back to playing the cpu. He’d play online, but that costs way too many money, especially on a constantly traveling ship. That was a headache listening to Groot argue several of the Guardians about that.

 

But he couldn’t just come out and say it to her. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings, while also risking Drax being pissed off at him for doing so.

 

Fingers crossed her naive nature plays into this.

 

“Ahh, well.. He pro’bly didn’t wan’ ya t’ get upset ‘bout losin’ t’ him in the game, so he kicked ya out t’ save ya from that,” he said, shrugging while trying to lie in a casual tone of voice.

 

Thank the forces that be, there was a God who answered prayers!

 

Mantis’ face lit up into a touched, yet happy smile. Her cheerfulness was basically coming off of her in waves as she grinned (very, very awkwardly; poor girl was still trying to work on that) and bounced slightly in place. It took Kraglin aback and he ended up giving her a creeped-out face unintentionally.

 

“Ohh! Well, I am most glad that I do, as Quill would say, ‘suck hardcore’ at the video games! What a kind-hearted and caring friend Groot is to do that for me!”

 

Well… that wasn't exactly what he meant by that. But hey, roll with it.

 

“Yeah… totally th’ greatest at bein’ kind.”

 

An agreeing nod had the girl's hair move around slightly as she then turned to leave the room, “Then I must go immediately back to Groot. I shall thank him for his rare act of kindness!”

 

Before he can even stop the possible approaching, crushing disappointment, the naive young member of the Guardians sped away, her boots clanking against the metal floor. Well, he probably just set her up for some heartbreak. Or awkward confusion. It was hard to tell, really. Here's to hoping that the teen would just accept her words and not make a big deal about it. But knowing that his primary parental figure was a trigger happy, feisty ‘trash panda’ (according to what Quill would call him during arguments, because apparently saying what he was, a raccoon, would leave you with painful scratches), it was going to be awhile before there was a chance for him to become what the Guardians said he used to be: a gentle giant.

 

And as most situations go where the plot of a story begins to grow, the holo screen began to buzz with a notification. An incoming call was attempting to reach the ship.

 

What put Kraglin on edge was that it wasn't Quill or Yondu.

 

Nova Corps.

 

Oh dagnabbit, what fresh hell were they going to be dragged into? Probably some random criminal charge that one of the group was hiding that is come back to haunt them.

 

The man sat up, and after a few seconds of deliberation in his mind, decided to tempt fate and accept the call. His index finger pressing the button, he leaned his back into the chair and got ready to take mental notes on what was about to unfold.

 

The screen came to life instantly with its bright colors that made him slightly squint his eyes. Still not used to how the damn thing lit up with such glowing colors. Thankfully, it only lasted a few painful seconds. The image regained its clarity and showed the picture of a man in a Nova Corps uniform.

 

Wait a minute, he recognized him. The guy that always got Quill’s Star-Lord name wrong. So, he should be a friendly face…

 

Right?

 

“Oh, um, hello there,” the man had blinked a few times and stuttered, slightly looking away in embarrassment before giving him his focus again, “I-I apologize. It looks like I may have dialed the wrong number-”

 

“No, ya dialed right; this here is th’ Milano,” Kraglin corrected, resting his face against his left index finger.

 

“Really? Oh… I'm sorry, but it's just… your presence kind of threw me off. I thought you were one of the Ravagers Quill had help us back then,” the man said, frowning slightly as he rubbed his shoulder, obviously struggling to continue the conversation.

 

That sentence made Kraglin scowl.

 

“Not ‘nymore. Situations changed things. I’m a Guardian now. Team’s hell of a lot bigger, too.”

 

The man nodded and accepted the answer. He seems to take a big breath, as if to begin what he called for.

 

“Okay. Well, now that I know I'm calling the right ship, I guess I can get down to business. I'm calling on behalf of Nova Prime to ask the Guardians of the Galaxy for assistance once again.”

 

The Xandarian cocked his head to the other side and raised an eyebrow as his expression changed into an unmoving, determined look while he spoke, “I'm not th’ leader ‘round here, but I doubt we’ll be acceptin’ jobs at th’ moment. Team got banged up on th’ last mission, so we here on Xandar for R ‘n R. Ya hear me?”

 

It appeared that the response he gave didn't cause the determination of the other man to waver.

 

“I understand. I'm very sorry for calling you at a time where you all are trying to recover from your injuries and enjoy yourselves, but this is an extremely dire situation. One that we are in need of your talents and experience,” he pleaded, “I will accept your decision if you choose to decline, but I need to at least discuss this with you. Please.”

 

Kraglin couldn't help but yawn after hearing that. He wasn't really that trusting of the Nova Corps. Frankly, he would choose to decline them and move on. But then again, money was money. And, who knows? Maybe this was another humongous issue that needed to be addressed, like the infinity stone or some giant monster like Quill’s biological dad was.

 

Putting behind his dislike for the Nova Corps, he rubbed his fingers through his hair and nodded as a sign of understanding the officer.

 

“A’ight. Lemme see if I can get Star-Lord to th’ ship so he can talk with ya. Just tellin’ ya now, they been at a bar. So… expect ‘em to be pissed.”

 

The man nodded understanding that he was addressing a good portion of the team.

 

“Of course, I will accept all responsibility for this. Thank you once again. Please contact me as soon as possible. Have a good rest of your night.”

 

With a wave, Kraglin watched the screen hang up and fade out as a result. His thin lined mouth felt dry and frankly, he was ready to hit the sack. They already got done with one mission and literally within twenty-four hours, they're being contacted for another one. And by the Nova Corps, no less. It was at times like these he wish he didn't offer to stay behind and could have gone drinking with the rest of them.

 

But then, if he went out to drink, he would begin to remember those memories with Tullk and Oblo and-

 

Suck it up, boy. Do your job and tuck your chin in.

 

Hearing his former captains words ringing his head, the former first mate let out a discouraged sigh. His fingers drifted over the control panel, instantly going to call the ones who were partying back to the ship. He didn't know if they were going to accept the job or not, or what the job details may hold. But one thing was for sure.

 

They were going to be pissed.

 

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

 

“Okay… so, let me... just recap so I see if I got this straight.”

 

The words spoken by Morse’s mom honestly had him tempted to start laughing out loud at how frustrated her tone of voice was, as well as accompanied by the look of pure disbelief. Not to mention the ridiculousness of what was transpiring in this living room right now.

 

On the sofa near the back door sat her and Mr. Logan together, their tea cups resting on the black coffee table in front of them. Near them was the antique chair, with Captain Marvel standing next to it. She was leaning against the wall as she sipped out of her tea cup, with the other costumed individual, whose name his mom and stepdad now knew as Nova, standing near her doing the same. Across from the parents sat Fury on the leather seat, with his drink on the built-in cup holder on the right armrest, and the boss behind him near the entry way towards the kitchen holding his as well.

 

And Morse, of course, was sitting cross-legged on the carpet floor in front of the tv with no tea. It had gotten a harsh glance from his mom to be that inconsiderate to not be polite and sit in a chair or stand, but hey. According to what he was being asked to do, he couldn’t really care. He was going to make himself feel at home… while he was at home.

 

The living room, while boasting a beautiful pale blue color, and designed with a sea house interior-like scheme and decorations, with both furniture and pictures to accompany this… was at a super tense atmosphere. Especially when sea houses are supposed to be relaxing. Can’t really feel that when government officials and superheroes are discussing things about your son.

 

Or seeing soldiers outside the house guarding the perimeter.

 

Pretty sure one of them just commented about how lovely the garden was.

 

Yeah, he better! His parents put a lot of work into it-

 

Morse’s attention was instantly brought back to his mom at the same speed it was lost.

 

“You…” she said, pointing to Nova, “...are from another planet?”

 

Nova nodded with a smile, “Yes. I’m from the planet of Xandar. I’m a hero entrusted to helping its military force, the Nova Corps, protect the planet and the galaxy from all potential threats.”

 

The mother nodded with the same frustrated look as she looked over to the other superhero.

 

“And… he’s not crazy and lying?”

 

Snickering at the frown Nova gave, Captain Marvel nodded.

 

“Yes, he isn’t. I’ve fought alongside him and have been to space with him before.”

 

“So, essentially, you are confirming that other aliens and planets do exist?” Mr. Logan asked, not as extreme in his shock and concern as his wife, but still evident.

 

Both superheroes nodded.

 

“....And you found… a ‘box’?” Britt continued, staring at the heroes still.

 

“Well, more accurately, scientists employed by the Nova Corps were tasked to find anything that could help protect Xandar after a recent invasion had been launched, resulting in a lot of damage to the main city of the planet. They located an unidentified object that not even our research and information database can identify… but considering the description of the object, then… yes, I suppose you can call it a box,” the male explained, though conceded to her near the end.

 

“Though, from what he’s told us, the box is close to twenty-five feet tall, so it’s not something that you’re probably thinking of,” Captain Marvel added.

 

She received a nod from the mother, but didn’t change the expression. Morse was close to giggling at this point.

 

She looked over towards the S.H.I.E.L.D agents.

 

“And… this pertains to my son….why, Dr. Iverson?”

 

Ohhhh!!!

 

Iverson!!

 

So that’s what his name was! Thank God almighty!

 

Morse finally remembered his boss was Dr. Steve Iverson. Wow, did it feel great to remember after so many times of having to dodge attempting to say the name, only to forget.

 

…It’s such a shame he’s gonna forget it by tomorrow, most likely. Knowing how much of a piece of-

 

“Well, Mrs. Morse, the reason is being that none of the scientists employed by the Nova Corps can seem to figure out what the item is or how to open it. They are in need of help, so they have requested assistance from any possible outside help,” the man answered.

 

“....So am I to assume that it really means they’ve run out of ideas, so they’re just scraping the barrel on who they can find to help?”

 

Morse decided to throw a little humor into the mix as he smiled and raised his hand, catching the group’s attention.

 

“I said nearly the same thing to them, mom. Ain’t it sweet how we’re so alike?” he said, smiling like a cheeky bastard to her, and even chuckling when she gave him a glare.

 

Ignoring the smirks from Mr. Logan, Dr. Iverson, and even the heroes, Britt looked to Fury as he attempted to answer.

 

“I know it may seem like it, but the reality is that it could potentially affect us. Since the other scientists cannot figure what this ‘box’ could be, it’s a potential danger that could be a threat. If it falls into the wrong hands, it could be disastrous for Xander. And if so, it could be disastrous for other planets, including Earth, as well.”

 

The woman, although extremely against this whole conversation since the start, nodded at what he had to say. And then turned her head towards her son, who noticed and gave her a smile. She couldn’t believe this whole thing was happening. So, she wanted to hear it out of his mouth.

 

“So… with all that knowledge, you **want** to be the person they send across the galaxy to Xandar to attempt to research this ‘box’?” she asked, leaning towards him.

 

A smiling scoff was Morse’s response.

 

“Hey… I didn’t say I **wanted**  to go.”

 

Britt’s response was to lean back onto the couch and rub her face with frustration. Cue the step-dad double-team tactic.

 

“Well, then; care to tell us why S.H.I.E.L.D agents and superheroes are in our living room talking about this, then?” Mr. Logan laughed loudly, smiling at Morse about the whole contradictory statement.

 

“Oh, it’s rather simple, Dale,” the boy responded using his first name, making his fingers do quotation marks near the end of his answer, “It’s because they’re pushing the whole ‘routine’ again.”

 

“Routine?” his mom chimed in, looking at him again while sitting up.

 

Morse nodded, glancing over to his employer while he talked.

 

“Yup. Despite the fact I graduated from Harvard only a while ago and was a gas station employee prior to this, as well as tons of other men and women there with more experience and credentials that deserve this opportunity more than me… Dr. Iverson is sticking to the ‘schtick’ of ‘this young man is the best person we’ve got, and thus the only person who can do this’,” he recited the boss’ words with a deeper impersonation.

 

“Hey, the fact you were able to take a piece of a rifle and turn it into a potential device to make airplane landings safer was impressive. Plus, it was cool to watch!” Captain Marvel spoke up, causing the young man to roll his eyes with a lazy smirk.

 

“Really?”

 

Mr. Logan’s voice had shown his and his wife’s interest in this.

 

“Absolutely. In fact, your son is responsible for over half of the findings from the Chitauri species we’ve uncovered for S.H.I.E.L.D so far,” Dr. Iverson had to chime in… of course he did.

 

Both parents seemed to be conflicted, yet interested. On one hand, they didn’t seem to want their son traveling across the galaxy to some random planet. But on the other hand, they never knew how much of an impact he had on their research.

 

Of course, he never told them in much detail…

 

“I assure you; all lucky, I tell ya,” said son tried to disprove what was supposed to be a complimenting comment of him.

 

His stepdad looked over with a smiling, yet awed face.

 

“You never told us that you were able to make those kinds of things.”

 

“Ahh, details, details,” Morse smiled, waving a dismissing hand.

 

Fury hardened his look towards the negative figure sitting on the floor. It didn’t cause the smile to shirk away, but it did stop him from attempting to discredit himself or negate anything that was said. As he accomplished this small goal, he directed his attention back to the parents on the sofa.

 

“I understand this is much to process at the moment, and it’s a very hard choice to make. But representing S.H.I.E.L.D and the United States government, it’s my job to ensure that this country, and by extension if situations call it, the world is protected from anything and everything. If this ‘box’ ends up being something that can threaten the country or planet’s safety, then we need to cooperate with Xander in preventing it from being used for the wrong reasons. But we need to first understand what it is. And your son,” he re-explained his earlier point with more emphasis, motioning to the smiling man who is currently tuning him out and looking at the floor, “may be the only person qualified that we can send to succeed in this. That’s why we need him and why we want to discuss this with you.”

 

And… cue the mother’s rant.

 

“Look, I understand what you’re saying, but the answer is **no**!” Britt said almost instantly the moment Fury finished speaking, “You want me to allow my baby to be taken off this planet and sent across the galaxy away on some alien homeworld? One that Mr. Nova just stated had an invasion recently? How will my baby be safe? How will I be able to contact him? I doubt my phone or talking on Skype would work on something like another planet across space! And how is he going to live there? How do we know if it’s safe for him to eat-”

 

A clearing of the throat caused her voice to die into a worried whine. But surprisingly… it wasn’t from Morse this time.

 

It was from her husband.

 

“I think what my wife is trying to say is that we’d like to discuss this privately with our son, so could you hold on a minute or two?” he said, looking at everyone, who all nodded.

 

“What? D-Dale Lo-”

 

“Just, come on… we’ll go near our bedroom so they can’t hear us.”

 

With that, Mr. Logan groaned as he hoisted himself out of the sofa and began walking towards that section of the house. He gave the guests an apologetic smile while he traveled away from their vision. At the same time, Britt was not a happy camper. She rubbed her temples, signaling she was angry now, and got up, silently walking past everyone without a second glance.

 

And that left Morse, with the others looking towards him.

 

Okay… why was Mr. Logan not agreeing with mom to keep him here? Hmmm…

 

A shrug commencing, the large human huffed and grunting slightly as he used both arms to push off the carpet and into a standing position. Stuffing his hands into his pockets, his smile stayed consistent.

 

“Welp… excuse us; looks like we gotta take care of a little family squabble.”

 

With that, he walked out of the room and followed the departing parents. It left the two S.H.I.E.L.D agents and two superheroes sitting and standing quietly in awkward silence, hoping to hear a favorable response upon their return.

 

Hilariously enough, the silence was actually broken by Fury, who picked up his tea cup and took a sip. Licking his lips slightly, he nodded in favorable response while looking down at his drink.

 

“Wow. He’s right; they do make really great tea.”

 

His sentence was met with the other three responding with a collective, agreeing ‘mmm’.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, this was kind of fun. Especially since I asked my mom on what she'd act like in these situations. She really did like what I came up with for her response. Glad to know someone likes my writing.
> 
> Am I doing good? Please let me know; feedback is appreciated.


	6. A two letter word becomes three letters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing at 3 AM. Hooraaayyy....  
> Enjoy, guys.

Of all the things that had to go down, his mom had to be angry. Of course that had to happen.  
  


Over the years of growing up under her house, Morse would tell you his mom wasn’t the type of person to get angry easily. And more than ninety percent of the time, it wasn’t illogical or unfounded anger you’d expect out of someone’s parent in some kind of a story. It was when something truly was not acceptable, whether it was his fault or someone else’s, or when he had done something that scared her for his safety.  
  


It was those ten percent times that made him, in all honesty, feel worried and hesitant around her. He hated whenever she was angry; it made him upset when she was upset. Which is why his smile still being plastered on his face was like… in a strange sense the only thing keeping him from panicking or becoming sad about this.  
  


And it was hard walking towards the bedroom, especially seeing his mom rubbing her face in frustration. This already was going to be a tense discussion, and he felt somehow there was going to be some tears leaking out of her eyes. And he absolutely loathed watching his mom crying.  
  


She was too cool of a person to be sad.  
  


Meanwhile, his step-dad was standing across from her, watching him walk over. He apparently had waited for him to make his entrance to their talk before beginning this.  
  


Morse waved slightly, adjusting the brim of his hat.  
  


“Alrighty. Here for the squabble,” he said quietly, but not too quiet for it to be considered a whisper.  
  


“Honey, stop. This isn’t the time, okay?” his mom looked through her fingers towards him, voice seeming to threaten to crack at any moment, “...Dale Logan.”  
  


The husband recognized her attention was now onto him and adjusts his pants while addressing her, “I know you’re upset about what I’ve just done… but this is something we need to discuss.”  
  


“No, it’s not,” she lowered her hand, folding her arms, “This shouldn’t even be a question that needs to be thought over. The answer is no.”  
  


It seemed like he knew the woman was going to be a stubborn obstacle to budge in his attempt to move the conversation along. Instead of making this a screaming match, he would focus on the topic at hand. It was something Morse admired out of him; not letting his emotions taking over. Staying on course.  
  


“While I agree with you that I don’t particularly wish for our son to go up into space, this isn’t a question of us wanting him to go or not. It’s a matter of if he’s needed to help or not.”  
  


“I don’t care if he’s ‘needed’! Dale, they’re talking about sending my baby boy into  **space!** Off the planet! I can’t believe you’re not siding with me on this!” his mom fired back.  
  


Well, he’s technically twenty-three at the moment, so…  
  


“Yeah, Dale. Didn’t know you wanted me out of the house that badly,” Morse joked casually, chuckling.  
  


He received a very disappointed look from the male, signaling now was really **not** the time to be saying things like that. Well, leave it to him to make things worse. Especially with how worthl-  
  


“Honey, I understand that you’re upset-”  
  


He frowned as he could hear Morse mutter barely ‘well, that’s an understatement’ and he continued.  
  


“But this isn’t about us. This is about our son.”  
  


“And I’m refusing for his sake. This is something that he’s not ready for. I don’t care if he’s in his twenties now; I don’t think he should be taken away from us like this!” she said, her face morphing with the chance of breaking down, “I’m okay with him working on alien technology, but not being sent lightyears away from us! U-unacceptable! He’s safer being here with us; what if something happens to him? ...Well, Dale?”  
  


The man seemed to lean into the wall, his head lowered so his expression couldn’t be seen well. Okay, this was something he’d seen before. Those times where he was not entirely in agreement, but listening over what was being said.  
  


“So… what you’re saying is, you’re scared of him taking this chance? And that he should stay with us because we don’t know what might happen?”  
  


His voice seemed to be prodding for a reaction… Morse felt like this was him accepting what she had to say. It felt that way, and yet-  
  


“Then you understand now why I refuse. We’re telling them no. End of discussion, do you understand me?” she said, her voice cracking slightly with her eyes watering, “I’m hurt, Dale Logan. I cannot believe you wouldn’t side with me on this.”  
  


With that, she started to make her towards the living room. And frankly, this was something she did a lot. Something Morse hated. Whenever she seemed to be losing an argument, especially with him or her husband, she would begin to tear up and get emotional. And by that time, she became stubborn and illogical. Don’t misunderstand this; he loved his mom with all his heart. But this was why he didn’t like arguing with her and became passive whenever she stood her ground against him.  
  


So, he thought this was the one and done deal. Guess Mr. Logan’s not doing this-  
  


Color him surprised what happened next.  
  


“...You know, I honestly have to say for the first time in our marriage.. I cannot believe you right now.”  
  


The words that came out of Mr. Logan’s mouth had caused Morse to lower his head, so the hat was blocking his face; mainly the eyes were obstructed by the bill. If one were to take the effort to look underneath it and be quick enough to not get caught, it would reveal the male looked like a deer caught in the headlights. His eyes were nearly wide open, being a huge opposite to his normally lazy and barely opened eyes.  
  


Oh gawd, he is really doing this!  
  


His vision quickly darted into the corner of his eyes, watching his mom slowly turn around. She wasn’t ‘thinking that she won’ or something so smug, but it was fairly clear to say she thought she had made a point that the conversation was over. Her face clearly showed suppressed anger that had surprise covered over it, like a blanket on a mattress.  
  


“...What?” she challenged him to answer.  
  


He wasn’t angry, but the husband’s smile clearly was strained, as if in disbelief at her. His hands began to wave around as he talked. He ended up doing that whenever he got serious about something. Talking with his hands.  
  


“Are you not the same Britt Morse... that I married who, for the past month, has confessed her worries to me about how her son… is wasting his life away, sitting in his room and not taking opportunities in his life? How you feel like he’s not working to his full potential? How you want him to get out of his comfort zone and take chances out in the world?”  
  


The look on the woman’s face could be considered priceless. It was like she was certain she was winning a game of chess, but out of nowhere, her opponent put her into checkmate and she never saw it coming. Not even from a marathon away. Like, the realization of her feelings backfiring on her was now rearing its ugly head, and it was clear as day her husband was going to keep going with this point.  
  


“And now here he is,” he says, slightly louder while motioning to the people waiting for them in the living room to finish this ‘team huddle’, “being offered a once in a lifetime opportunity, Britt. Something that I know that you and I both know would most likely never happen again, as well as rarely happen to anyone on Earth. A chance to go to another planet across the galaxy and help protect it by doing his part in the attempts to research this ‘box’ they found. It could arguably be the biggest thing to happen in his life!”  
  


He finished by leaning in and tapping the palm of his left hand with his right index finger at every point he made to emphasis what he tried to state.  
  


“...And yet you want him… to keep sitting in his room, not take this opportunity, waste this chance to work to his full potential, stay in his comfort zone, and not take a chance out in the world? Really?”  
  


The woman began sputtering out, her voice attempting to work in order to argue his solid stance as soon as possible.  
  


“D-D-Dale Logan, when I meant ‘take chances in the world’ and about his potential, I mean on our planet! Not going off to some alien place!”  
  


“Honey, as much as I don’t like how he argued about this against us,” he swiftly countered, “he has a point. He’s a government researcher, working for S.H.I.E.L.D. I really don’t see how, at least on our planet, he can advance any further than that. Not unless you want him to try being the president…”  
  


“I-I can’t believe you! What part of ‘sending him across the galaxy’ do you not understand?”  
  


“I’m not wanting him to be shot up into space, either! But don’t you realize if you choose to have him decline this, he’ll probably start thinking to decline other opportunities that may-”  
  


“ **AHEM** .”  
  


The intense, deafening throat-clearing had both of their mouths shut. Their heads immediately turned towards Morse, whose smile was still ever present. His hand was currently balled into a fist in front of his mouth, doing its best to prevent any phlegm from surprise-exiting his mouth.  
  


….Oh yeah, this conversation was about him, and he was standing here-  
  


Hell, he could’ve sworn both of them blushed a bit in embarrassment. Not only at having a lover’s quarrel in front of him, but their voices loud enough for the guests in the living room or the soldiers outside to hear. Oh dear.  
  


He smacked his lips after licking them up to be a little bit more moist than they were. With that, the shoulders scrunched up in response to his exaggerated grin before his right hand rubbed over his throat gently.  
  


“Haha, sorry. Throat’s a bit too scratchy at the moment,” he apologized.  
  


His arms were back into his hoodie pockets the moment he finished rubbing his throat, and he leaned (well, more like bent over) forward towards them with his grin diminishing into a very rare thin-line lipped expression.  
  


“Now… as the person they want to shoot up into space Star-Trek style, I think I should be allowed to give my opinion on the matter… as well as it being the final say, don’t you think so?”  
  


The parents gave no verbal answer right off the bat, but it was evident that while looking each other dead in the face, that they agreed. As much as they may not like what he chooses, Morse was the one who really should make the decision. And oh boy, did Britt want to object if he chooses what she doesn’t want. But despite being upset, Dale was right about things he said.  
  


The woman wiped her eyes clean of tears and cleared her throat, while the male stood up straight and folded his arms. In the end, both gave their unified attention to him.  
  


Can’t believe that worked. Well… anything’s better than them getting into a fight and starting something they’d regret, right?  
  


Though, to be frank, Morse was very conflicted. You couldn’t tell based on how he kept himself calm and cool most of the time. But back in the labs, the moment he was told what was happening with Fury and the two superheroes being there, he felt like he was in some kind of a dream that he wanted to wake up from. Seriously, him? Being chosen to research some alien artifact out of everyone there? They had to be joking.  
  


And yet… during the trip to his home up until now… the feelings of uncertainty, fear… curiosity… excitement, or maybe that was just the buzz from what they wanted of him… all were swirling in his chest. Almost causing to…  
  


Said feelings began to rise up again secretely within him. He wasn’t about to show it to his parents, however. In order to hide it, he took a deep breath and kept his gaze down, hiding it behind the bill of his headband-added basketball hat.  
  


“...It’s funny how Mr. Logan… said something that really pertains to this,” he started slow, “About comfort zones. Because given the choice... I’d be saying no in a heartbeat. That’s how dead set I am on this issue. There’s going out of your comfort zone, and then going out of your planet. Mom’s right. Kind of different things, if you ask me, you know?”  
  


And how he doesn’t deserve it. He doesn’t deserve this kind of an amazing opportunity. He doesn’t deserve-  
  


“And frankly… regardless of how many times Fury or…”  
  


...Frig, what was his boss’ name-  
  


“...my boss tries to push the whole ‘routine’ angle,” he starts to say, his right hand making a circular motion, “every other person in the lab is a better choice. I just happened to get lucky with my findings. They’ve got much more years of experience than I do, and frankly, they should earn this kind of a chance.”  
  


That, and he felt guilty. Like he was robbing those men and women such a cool chance to go to a whole new world. Not some bum like him. Especially with how incredibly stu-  
  


…..But…..  
  


“......But….. regardless of personal feelings, I feel like Mr. Fury’s words... kind of ring true. Even in my position.”  
  


Both parents blinked in surprise. Morse began to have his signature smile recreate itself onto the skin.  
  


“The whole obligation part. As much as I’d rather stay at home playing video games on my spare time… as a S.H.I.E.L.D researcher, it’s my duty to make sure that everything I do can protect our country. But this… this is bigger than me. Bigger than us. Maybe even bigger than the planet. So… if going across the galaxy to a random planet to help research this… ‘mystical, unidentified thingy-ma-bob’ can save lives… for both planets, and the entire galaxy as well…”  
  


He looked up, giving the same smile. But this time… it was smaller…  
  


Yet real.  
  


“I don’t really have the right to refuse,” he finished, looking back and forth between his parents for some kind of reaction.  
  


It seemed like both parents weren’t expecting that kind of an answer from him, due to the shocked looks on their faces. Welp, seriousness ruined. A wheezing laugh came out of his mouth about seven or eight seconds later due to neither of them making any kind of response. Holding onto the brim of his hat, he shook his head gently.  
  


“Oh, man… your faces are rather… something,” he admitted to them.  
  


It was the step-dad surprisingly that broke out of his silent disposition first. The smile that had been planted and was starting to grow spoke one word clearly. Pride.  
  


“I’m sorry, I’m just… honestly amazed at what you just said. That was… a wise and very thought out thing to say, son,” he said, folding his arms.  
  


Morse shrugged and closed his eyes.  
  


“What can I say? I have my moments…”  
  


However, he instantly opened his eyes and raised a finger up. His expression showed he wanted to make something clear.  
  


“But I want to make this clear, okay? I  **still** believe everyone in the lab is a better choice, and that they should be getting this, not me. Only doing this because Fury and the boss are dead set on me being their choice,” he spoke, “And if I cannot do anything initially with this project, then I’ll immediately come home. That’s a promise, alright?”  
  


It seemed like that part of his words seemed to disappoint the stepfather slightly, with him refusing to accept that he could’ve earned this. But he accepted it regardless, the nodding of his skull showcasing this. But now was the difficult part…  
  


...For the mother was rubbing her eyes absolutely silent at this point.  
  


Oh, man.  
  


“Hey, mom? Listen, I’m sorry; I know you’r-”  
  


“No. Don’t apologize. You’re… Dale and you both are right.”  
  


Well, that was one hell of an unexpected, eye-opener. His head tilted slightly while at least the thumbs of his hands came out of the hoodie pockets. He was graced with a mother smiling both sadly, yet proudly.  
  


“I… I’m just so caught up in making sure you’re safe. I’m scared about you, about your future, honey. I’m just… so worried that you’re gonna struggle and your confidence in yourself will take another painful fall. I truly believe that you have such potential in yourself, and yet, here I am… denying that because I’m worried about you,” she said, clearing her throat and regaining her composure, “But you’re now in your twenties. You may be my baby for life, but you’re an adult now. I need to let you start making decisions for yourself. And the fact that this is such an incredible chance to have, and that you’re taking the steps to do so without Dale or I constantly prodding you is just… amazing.”  
  


Well, more like because he’s being chosen, but ehhh. Still true.  
  


Her bare feet took a few steps closer to him, causing a creak in the carpeting. The arms of a motherly hugged wrapped around Morse, giving him a giant smile.  
  


“I love you, turkey lips. I’m so proud of you and I know that you can do this,” her comforting words essentially spoke of her permission being given to do this.  
  


“Yeah, well… I’m your kid after all, you know,” He chuckled, giving her a quick peck on the forehead as she let go, and then look between the both of them, “So… we all agree? The answer is a yes?”  
  


“I think it is,” she responded with a smile, and then spoke up, “But off topic for a second. Honey? Sometime, I’d love to hear what they were talking about. About your findings and such; I want to know what you’ve made.”  
  


“I would, as well. It seems you’re doing a fantastic job, according to them,” the stepdad spoke up, nodding with equal curiosity.  
  


Having to stop himself from making a sigh out of slight annoyance so as to not ruin the mood, the son responded while rubbing his neck, “Ahh, it’s not much, really. But if you really want sometime, I could run by a few things the lab’s been able to complete.”  
  


With the pair nodding, Morse bobbed his head back and forth while motioning to the living room. It was time to give the waiting guests the news. And with the ability to hear his mom whispering an apology to his stepdad and both saying they loved each other, this was… rather nice, in a strange, going to space sense.  
  


This was definitely not a normal workday.  
  


Only a few seconds passed as the family made their way to the living room. The heroes were the first to notice their presence first, as the two pushed off the wall they were leaning against. Walking over to the black coffee table to put down their glasses were the actions that caught the eyes of the other two and looked towards seeing the family re-enter.  
  


“So…. finished the squabble,” Morse waved off with a tired smile.  
  


“I see… and you’ve come to a decision, then?” Fury asked, leaning closer.  
  


“We have decided… that we are okay with you sending our son to Xandar,” Mr. Logan spoke up, nodding definitely.  
  


Before the relieved and happy faces of the three (because come on, Fury smiling? Not in this lifetime) could truly develop or one of them to congratulate their pick, Britt raised her hand with a no-nonsense look on her face.  
  


“On one condition,” she announced.  
  


“Of course,” Morse said, grinning in amusement as she continued.  
  


“I want to ask some questions about this… research thing. Mainly about what’s going to happen with my son.”  
  


“Absolutely,” Nova was the one to speak up, “I’m going to be the person in charge of transporting your son onto my ship, so I should be able to give you any information you need.”  
  


Establishing himself as the one taking responsibility for her son’s safety, the mother turned to him with a nod and began to ask questions.  
  


“Okay, first question. How do I know if my son is going to survive there? Like, can human beings digest food up at Xandar without getting sick or having problems?”  
  


“Well, ma’am. I’m actually a human, too. ...It’s a long story, and not really important,” he reassured her, while trying to prevent the conversation from turning into his origin story after the family, as well as Morse’s boss, gave him a shocked gaggle of faces, “So, I can personally verify that there are many foods, healthy ones at that, that are safe for human consumption. You have nothing to worry about. Plus, the Nova Corps will be paying for his expenses such as food and drink, so your son will not worry about starving while he’s up there.”  
  


“Even if that wasn’t the case, it’s not like we would be sending him into space unprepared,” Fury spoke up, gathering all the attention in the room, “We will give you some finances, so you may go out and purchase necessities for the trip. That way, he has things from Earth that he can take up with him.”  
  


“Are you telling us that our son is going to be spending government money?” Mr. Logan said with amazement in his voice, even more so on his face when Fury seemed to confirm it with a quiet, serious face.  
  


A wheezing snicker shot from Morse’s mouth and spoke in a loud whisper, “Wow.. no wonder this country is in debt.”  
  


The man in black hardened his features at his employee and narrowed his eyes.  
  


“As long as you don’t go attempting to spend so much to increase the debt, there really isn’t too much of a limit that I’ll prohibit you from going past. Just please focus on getting the absolute necessary things you need and less of what you want. I hope you can realize that and not attempt to go on a spending spree.”  
  


“And we’ll help to make sure,” the mother nodded gently, giving ‘the look’ to Morse so he could understand he’d have some guidance on that before turning back to Nova, “Okay, second question. I’m assuming he’s going to have a place to stay? Or does my son have to worry about renting an apartment or something up there?”  
  


“I’m positive that not only will food and drink will be provided, but a place to stay is guaranteed. The leader of the Nova Corps, Nova Prime, is very honorable. She wouldn’t just hire someone from another planet and then force them to find housing on their own,” Nova answered, initially cupping his chin with his fingers before looking back at her, “Your son will have a place to stay.”  
  


“Awesome. Something above being under a park bench,” Morse smiled at him with a very small, shit-eating grin.  
  


It seemed to get a snort out of the female superhero, as Nova deadpanned at that. Ignoring his son’s humor, the mother continued.  
  


“Third question. Is there anything I need to know that’s going to happen to my son?”  
  


“....There is,” Nova responded, his gloved hands wiping under his nose with caution on how to word this right, “He’s going to need to undergo some surgery to-”  
  


Now, Britt would’ve responded with an immediate exclaim of worry. But hilariously enough, it was Morse of all people who interrupted the man. Not as much of a freaked out tone of voice, but obviously the giant, strained smile across his face seemed to be the crack within his iron mask of chilling.  
  


“Surgery? What surgery? Nobody told me that there was going to be surgery involved here, ‘o boss of mine,” he said, glancing over towards his employer, who shrugged innocently with a sympathetic expression.  
  


“Yeah… care to explain what you mean?” Mr. Logan spoke up, causing the son to whirl his head back to Nova and watch him nervously.  
  


The superhero looked at Morse and addressed him, “Since you’d be going to another planet, you’ll be associating with different alien species. You won’t be able to understand their languages. So, unless you want to learn over at least fifty different languages foreign to Earth that you’ll need to understand from Xandar from now until we get there, you’ll need to have surgery to implant a translator device.”  
  


“...Translator implant?” Morse repeated in a whispered breath, tilting his head.  
  


“It’s nothing too big. It’s a small metal device, about the size of your thumb. Very slender. What we’d have done is make a small cut within the back of your neck, and then attach the device within the incision onto your spinal cord. It won’t cause any pain, but what it’ll do is latch onto your vertebrae. From there, it will connect into your brain stem and essentially translate any language spoken to you. Simply put, every alien you meet will speak English.”  
  


Now, that would’ve been cool to think about, had he not heard the following words: cut, neck, incision, spinal cord, and pain. Almost instinctively, Morse looked back with the same strained smile towards his parents. To the normal eye, it would pretty much be the same nervous look he had covering the canvas known as his face. But his parents knew him better. They could not only see the extremely small twitch under his right eye, but the beads of sweat starting to form on his forehead and near his temples.  
  


“Okay,” Mr. Logan laughed loudly, expecting this kind of reaction from him, “So our son is giving us a look. So, we have to ask; surely he’s going to be given some medication in order to not feel this happening, right?”  
  


“What? Of course he will! Geez, they ain’t gonna gut him like a fish!” Nova laughed, seeing Morse snickering in both fear and amusement, “They’ll be using not only numbing medication around that part of the neck to deaden the nerves, but also similar to what something like… xanax would be like. He’ll be out like a light during this surgery.”  
  


“And you promise the best surgeons do this?” Britt seemed less ecstatic about his joking.  
  


“Oh, of course. All employed by Nova Prime herself. You don’t have anything to worry about, okay, buddy?” he assured her before smiling at the scientist.  
  


With a nervous chuckle, he shrugged his purple-hooded shoulders as a response while adjusting his hat. He was a nervous wreck underneath the struggling, calm exterior now. A part of him wished to just say no now. Welp, too late now for that.  
  


Gawddamn it.  
  


“Okay…. Not too excited for that, but… I guess for now, I have one last question,” the mother confessed, and then ignored the chuckling son who seemed to bounce back, “Protection. There’s someone protecting my son, right?”  
  


“Well, ma’am, you’re going to be really happy on this answer. We don’t believe any neighboring planets or species have knowledge of what we’ve uncovered, so your son should be able to work on it without fear of being even threatened,” the man walked closer to them, “Yet, I promise you that I and the entire Nova Corps military force will be there, ready to defend him from any threats that may come his way. Furthermore, Nova Prime is currently hiring bodyguards for him as we speak.”  
  


“Oh? And are these bodyguards good?” Fury asked, raising an eyebrow, "Because the last thing I want is one of my scientists who have people hired to protecting him, but they can't take down one attacker."  
  


“Better than good. They were the ones that assisted the Nova Corps in saving Xandar from the invasion I had previously talked about earlier. I mean, really; a group that helped stop a planet-wide attack? I’d say they’re a superior choice for protecting him. Plus, they're reliable; they won't just abandon him like cowards. They're the best of the best,” he explained with a grin.  
  


It seemed like that last part not only had the S.H.I.E.L.D man narrow his eyes in interest of a group who manage to accomplish such a feat, but the entire room were impressed. If that was the truth, then Morse’s safety was guaranteed pretty much.  
  


Morse stuffed his hands into his pockets and scratched his right ankle with his left foot.  
  


“Sounds perfect. Though, gotta ask; they got a superhero name or something?” he asked, the smile turning into a thin-lined intrigued face.  
  


Nova smiled.  
  


“They call themselves… the Guardians of the Galaxy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this chapter is little under 1,000 words shorter, but I felt like the living room scene deserved to be wrapped up in one go.  
> Hope you guys like it; feedback would be cool.


	7. But the priiiiize...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please tell me someone gets the reference of the chapter name and where it's from.
> 
> Enjoy~

He wasn’t pissed off, like Kraglin assumed. He was more of annoyed right now.

  
Pissed would be some of the other people like Rocket. Well, just Rocket.

  
Pretty sure everyone else was just annoyed.

  
Honestly, all he was doing was showing off his cool moves to the jealous world and even getting Gamora of all people to join in with him. With some of the earlier drinks he had, that bar was a blast! He honestly would go back there again if given the choice. Especially since it seemed the team enjoyed that place too. ...Well, with the exception of Nebula, but then again, what does she even like?

  
So then imagine the feeling of a great night being ripped away from him the moment Kraglin contacts him. He was very thankful it wasn’t something serious, like a sudden attack on the ship, and that the three aboard were safe. But upon hearing a business offer from Nova Prime, it’s like his wounds suddenly flared their soreness even higher. And with a sigh, he had to endure complaints and rants from several of the team while they left. Rocket about how great the drinks were, Drax unable to rechallenge Nebula in some contest apparently, and Yondu, while not being too overbearing about it, grumbling about how it better be worth it. Meanwhile, Gamora seemed indifferent and her sister somewhat thankful.

  
But now, all of them were currently standing in the cockpit area with Kraglin and Mantis. Of course Groot wasn’t there; video games, no wonder. After shooing away the Xandarian out of his seat for the billionth time, Quill plopped himself in the captain’s chair and accepted the hologram call from the Nova Corps as it came right on schedule. However, instead of Dey like Kraglin said had appeared, it was Nova Prime herself. The screen showed from her shoulders up as she began to address them.

  
“Good evening, Guardians. I take it that your evening is okay?” she asked gently.

  
“It was a blast until you called us and ruined it,” Rocket muttered under his breath.

  
It wasn’t a mystery that his eyes were looking at Kraglin with a scowl; obviously blaming the Xandarian for ruining the evening by calling them over for this. On the other side, Kraglin couldn’t give two shits. He did his job and that was it. Far as he was concerned. Nothing good comes from the Nova Corps, and that’s where the mouth stayed shut.

  
Quill nodded and shrugged, “Yeah, I guess you could say that. We were checking out one of the new bars that opened up when you contacted us. So… just wanna issue future apologies if we come off as tense or rude…”

  
While the Terran chuckled nervously and rubbed his neck, Drax had to chime in.

  
“Because we absolutely are tense and rude after such a disruption from a glorious time.”

  
Besides a few glares from various members at him and Gamora obviously covering her eyes with one of her hands in annoyance from his words, Quill could feel his scolding gaze bounce off the brute. Not that he was being ignored, but more like Drax still couldn’t fathom why not everything that came to his mind was a great thing to say. And as such, the leader of the Guardians tried to salvage what was left of his confidence and place an elbow on the armrest, looking back at the possible future client to which was raising an eyebrow.

  
“H-Hey, so, um…. About what he just said-”

  
“It’s quite alright, Mr. Quill,” Nova Prime interrupted with a much softer expression of perception, “Your fellow Guardian explained to Dey that you are recovering from a dangerous mission, and as such, were out enjoying yourselves. I absolutely understand your disappointment or anger that my sudden request for you may bring. But I am indeed thankful that you’re willing to at least hear me out.”

  
“It better be frickin’ worth it,” Rocket mutters, glaring darkly up at the hologram screen.

  
“I’m sure it’s gonna be,” Yondu said, tilting his head and attempting to keep his indifferent face up as long as he needed to, “Pretty sure she wouldn’t be contactin’ us for some damn trivial thing.”

  
There was a few seconds of silence as it would appear the woman had glanced at him and a few other people in the room. It was then she spoke, as if to tread lightfully and choose her next words in a cautious fashion.

  
“...Yondu Udonta. Speaking of the ‘fellow Guardian’ I mentioned earlier, I see that you have picked up a few new members for your team, Mr. Quill,” she observed, as if to analyze what his reaction would be.

  
And it definitely sent a bit of a non-verbal cue between all the members present. Minus Mantis who the leader of Xander’s military troops wouldn’t know a damn thing about, two of the newest team members were former Ravagers that the Nova Corps had constant fueds with over the course of time. And the other had helped Ronan out during his invasion and attempted planet destruction. It was a no brainer that the three had their guard up and eyes full of suspicion aimed at her. Despite a rather simple observation, it had made the atmosphere in the room tense.

  
It was Gamora who stepped closer to the screen and addressed the woman.

  
“Yes, we have,” she cooly dismissed, “That isn’t going to be a problem, is it?”

  
To her pleasure and the team’s relief, Nova Prime shook her head and gave a tiny, but trustworthy smile.

  
“Not at all. If you trust them as part of your team, then I will put my faith in your judgement as well,” Nova Prime stated, causing the tense atmosphere to diminish and return to what it was when their call started.

  
“Okay, awesome! Great to hear, so um, yeah; this… job of yours. Mind getting to it?” Quill feigned joy and clapped his hands together, directing them to her in order to learn about this job offer.

  
Nova Prime nodded and began the mission overview.

  
“After Ronan’s invasion, the Nova Corps have been struggling to regroup and build their numbers back to what they were. It is a steady process, but in case of a disastrous event such as what happened months ago, we need to have something to secure our planet’s safety as we train recruits. Because of this, we’ve sent out scout teams to various plants for resources. Anything that can help us. And a few days ago, one of our teams discovered this.”

  
The hologram screen pushed Nova Prime’s face to the side and made the quality a bit smaller in order to bring up a picture. The Guardians all moved a bit closer and took in detail what they were being shown.

  
“A… black box,” Drax said to what was presumably himself, but aloud to where everyone could hear.

  
“One that is twenty-five feet tall and with a mass so great, we not only used all of our scavenging tech combined to move it, but had to bring in one of our largest battleships to transport it to Xandar,” she calmly explained, gaining some surprised looks from a few of the team, “We finally have gotten it to our main headquarters; it arrived yesterday.”

  
“And it took ya a battleship t’ move th’ thing t’ Xandar?” Kraglin repeated with an unangry scowl, his eyes locked on the image in judgmental disbelief.

  
“Geez, whaddaya expect from the Nova Corps? Their equipment is so low grade, I’m surprised they can even get to the frickin’ planet the stupid thing was on to begin with on those ‘ships’,” Rocket closed his eyes and with a scoff to the earlier statement, openly griped about their possible future employer with his arms thrown above his head.

  
That remark, along with his fingers making quotations when he said ‘ships’, seemed to get a chuckle out of Yondu and an retaliating scoff of agreement from Kraglin. If the woman on the screen was annoyed by the comment or even heard it, she was doing a good job at not acting like it. Gamora simply rolled her eyes while Quill looked back to give the three a glare. Stepping closer to the screen, she folded her arms and once again made herself present to the conversation.

  
“And what is this black box? Do you know of its purpose or what contents it may hold inside?”

  
“Unfortunately, the answer is no,” the response caused her brow to furrow in interest, “Despite the best efforts from our top scientific minds, we have no information on what this is or what it may possess inside. Not even anything to determine what alien race it belongs to. Everything is a mystery to us.”

  
It seemed like Rocket was about to make another backhanded remark about the ‘scientific minds’ part of the statement, but a look from Yondu discouraged him from being vocal. Quill was slightly glad about that, but frankly at the moment, he strangely felt like he was being jerked around back and forth with this story. Whatever this job was, he wanted to know it, because this was getting confusing.

  
“Sooo…. Um, what. You want us to figure out what’s in the box?” he asked, his face hilariously distorted by perplexion.

  
Nova Prime shook her head.

  
“No, that’s not the job I want to hire you for. You see, we have a scientist coming from another planet and he is on his way to Xander as we speak to discuss possibly working for us to research this object,” she replied as well as leaving out the fact that they were running out of options, “We are open to what other minds may uncover that our scientists can’t, which is why we have asked for his help. But that is why I have called you here.”

  
Before she could finish, as well as any of the other Guardians to ask any further questions, a distinct clanking of boots made a few steps to garner attention. It was Nebula, who had been standing off to the side in view, but was leaning against the wall. Pushing herself off with momentum, her arms remained locked and folded over her chest. She stopped directly behind her sister.

  
“...You want to hire us as bodyguards for the scientist you are bringing to Xandar,” she almost said emotionless during the hardening of her eyes.

  
Rocket’s ears perk up with annoyance.

  
“Whoa whoa- hey, back the flark up! Is that really the frickin’ job?”

  
Instantly, the other Guardians looked up at the screen for verification. And it was just as she said.

  
“Yes, that is exactly the job I’m offering you. We currently have this artifact a secret, and thus, we can confirm that currently there are no dangers to this scientist’s life while he researches it, should he accept this job. But I’m sure the majority of you Guardians would know that secrets can be easily found out and given to the wrong hands, especially in these parts of the galaxy,” she elaborated, earning a few understanding looks, “Despite how I believe that our officers can do an excellent job at guarding both him and the artifact, one can never be too careful. I want the best to protect him for any and all threats that may try to cease his progress, harm his well-being, or steal the box.”

  
She paused slightly to analyze the room. Several of the Guardians seemed against the idea, but what pleased her was that the majority seemed to understand what she was trying to convey. Her eyes confidently looked at all of them during the process of her resuming where she left off.

  
“And considering the fact that the Guardians of the Galaxy were a key part in securing the future of Xander during the monstrous, devastating attack that was launched against us over four and a half a years ago, I honestly don’t know of anyone else I could ask help for besides you. And that is why I come to you in asking for aid.”

  
Quill bit his lip. Well… that was stroking their egos a tiny bit, right? Well, it wasn’t like she was wrong or anything about that. But really no one else?

  
He nodded in response to her finishing and then motioned to her with an index finger to give them time. His feet apparently wasn’t going to be patient enough to wait for whatever response she would give to that. The chair became empty during his exit from sitting in it. From there, his boots took a few steps before addressing the team.

  
“...Well, thoughts, guys?” he looked around, attempting to take in the general consensus.

  
“Why ya askin’ us, boy? You’re the leader of the team,” Yondu said within the motion of cocking his head back as if his nose was lifted up to Star-Lord.

  
The Terran shrugged, “Yeah, I know that. But still, I want to make sure that the team’s on board with this before I decide on accepting or not.”

  
“I’m fairly confident in confirming that all of us are indeed onboard, friend Quill,” Drax folded his arms with confidence, failing to comprehend why Quill’s lips pursed and his head dropped a bit in fatigue, “The most pressing issue at the moment is whether or not we should pursue this mission or not.”

  
“No shit, you muscle-bound whack job,” Rocket snapped a bit, his eyes glaring a bit, “And I for one got better things to do than be some idiot who thinks that he’s intelligent just cause he’s a scientist’s parent and guard his weak and scrawny butt!”

  
“Rocket, we don’t even know what this guy we’d be protecting looks like,” Quill places his hands on his hips during his incredulous retort.

  
The smaller Guardian waved his paws at him in frustration and turned away, “Whatever! Point is, I’m not doin’ it!”

  
“For once I agree with the rodent,” Nebula’s silky voice added, ignoring the growl directed at her, “We have better things to accomplish, like killing Thanos and preparing ourselves for doing such.”

  
“She speaks the truth; my family will never be avenged until I stain the ground with his crimson blood,” Drax spoke with his ears piercing through the leader.

  
“And we will get to doing that… somehow,” Quill raised his volume to silence that stance for the time being with a promise, before he questioned for a minute how they would even accomplish that, “But the most important thing is if we should take this job. I me- you know, since we’re… ‘guardians’ or ‘heroes’ and we’re giving a shit now…”

  
Despite how the most vocal against the idea still seemed to be opposed to accepting the job, the three at least could comprehend the reasoning behind it. And luckily, any response opportunity was cut away when Gamora responded.

  
“This is also more than just protecting someone. If this… ‘box’ they found is something dangerous and uncontrollable, it needs to be protected against the wrong hands too. It’s too big of a potential threat to leave. All of you can understand that, right?”

  
Drax nodded to her, “I do. Though, mostly when our lives are in danger does it become a potential threat.”

  
The exasperated groan of Rocket was saddled with the facepalm of Quill that morphed to dragging the hand down his face. Before she could respond with a sigh, she hears Yondu hmph slightly and looks at him to see a face that is indifferent towards the mission offer.

  
“Frankly, I can sympathize with that. Ravagers would take ‘bout any job we were offered,” he spoke as if he was saying ‘I don’t give a shit’, his eyes the only thing turning to her when he noticed hers trained on him, “But we did the mission and called it done; that’s it. Didn’t care ‘bout if there was some threat loomin’ over it.”

  
“...Really?”

  
She looked at Quill, who shrugged with a duckface that seemed to confirm her disbelief. Kraglin rubbed under his nose and spoke for the two now.

  
“Pretty much what we did. We asked th’ questions never. No need t’ get all soft an’ doubt each other.”

  
A simple shake of the head was all the response Gamora gave him. It was only from a slightly shaking hand that the irked behavior left upon laying her eyes on Mantis.

  
“F-Forgive me… but I would like to possibly… offer an opinion?” she hesitantly offered, taking the silence, hoping for some kind of a cue to continue lightly.

  
When she was given a few nods, she brought her hands together in front of her waist and rubbed them constantly. She would glance up at various people randomly, but mainly kept her vision to the ground.

  
“If we did accept this offer from this woman… Would we not stay on Xandar? After all, we came here to recover from our last mission and to enjoy ourselves. We could, to an extent, still do that while making sure this individual and artifact safe, could we not?” She said, questioning the possibility.

  
...Damn. That’s… a good point. The Guardians sure seemed to think so. Regardless of who was in support of this, against it, or indifferent, the fact that they’d get to stay on the same planet they wanted to take a break on… very tempting. Especially since at the moment, no one knew about this artifact and thus it would be an easy job for now.

  
“...Good point, Mantis. Great job!” Quill gave her a grin and a thumbs-up, earning an excited and happy smile in return from her.

  
Yondu made a sucking noise with the left corner of his mouth.

  
“Well… suppose that’s a good reason to take the job. Though, I’d like to know what we’re supposed to be gettin’ paid for it,” he said, his eyes drifting back to the screen.

  
Upon hearing his words, Nova Prime realized that the team’s attention were back onto her after being politely silent while they discussed it. She watched as the leader raked the top teeth against his bottom lip, plopping himself back into the chair.

  
“So… yeah. I guess that’s the main question. So, is there an amou-”

  
“One trillion units.”

  
..............Wait, w-

  
“WHAT!?”

  
If it wasn’t for the fact that in utter shock the man’s body attempting to push itself out of the chair, but ended up slipping and smashing the right shoulder (which was one of the places he hurt himself in that last mission, gawddammit) into the armrest to crumble into an disgraceful heap, he would’ve jumped at Rocket’s sudden scream of both disbelief and excitement. The raccoon had suddenly whirled near the screen and his eyes were nearly bulging out of his skull. As Quill attempted to somehow get up, his head shot back towards the other Guardians. Aside from Mantis, who clearly seemed to have no idea what was going on, all of the team were just as equally rocked from this sudden revelation.

  
“One…. one trillion….” Drax uttered, unable to stop staring at the screen with his inability to finish his sentence.

  
Yondu abruptly pushed off of where he was leaning and fiddled with his long coat. From any normal observer, the man was calm and collected. His face showing he had it all together. But to a rather keen set of eyes…

  
“I’m sorry there, ma’am; my ears are a bit rusty and I don’t think I heard ya right. Whatchu say the price was?” he said, voicing rising higher as his eyebrows went up and wrinkled his forehead skin.

  
“As I’ve stated, one trillion units is the price we’re offering to pay you for this job,” she stated as serious as could be, finally breaking Yondu’s iron mask and caught him gawking.

  
Ignoring the obvious atmosphere in the room, it seemed that the bug lady looked around and seemed rather lost. Bringing her hands close to her chest, she frowned and inquired innocently.

  
“Forgive me… but, is one trillion units a lot of money?”

  
Upon hearing the question, the entire room turned to her and stared, causing her to feel like she would shrink into the form of a tiny pebble one would get stuck in one’s shoe. From incredulousness to frustration, no word was spoken. Only the nonverbal looks was enough to give her the answer of “ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer” or something of the sort.

  
“Gamora… how much did the Collector offer us for the Orb back when we first met?” Quill asked, jaw dropping slightly.

  
The woman turned to him with a serious face, “Four billion units…”

  
Kraglin, upon ignoring Drax, Rocket, and Yondu’s stammering, rubbed his hand across his face and cursing, “F’ckin’ globark… that much more…”

  
“One trillion units is… unfathomable,” Nebula looked away from her to the group, her jaw tense in trying to process the information, “With that large amount of money, the possibility of new upgrades to both weapons and the ship are endless.”

  
“You don’t gotta tell me twice!!” Rocket’s mouth seemed to water a bit as a giant excited grin came forth, seemingly hopping onto each foot back and forth while rubbing his paws together, “With that kind of moolah, we’d be some of the richest badasses in the galaxy!”

  
“But that kind of money is- what is the meaning of this?” Gamora stuttered, cursing under her breath for doing so, and turned to face Nova Prime, “Is this some kind of a joke?”

  
“No… this is far beyond some kind of a joke,” the woman said, her eyes hardening, “This is something that has been haunting me for the longest time. We lost… we lost many people that day Ronan attacked. Many good people, both citizens and honest, life-protecting soldiers. That kind of failure haunts me to this day. That I have to wake up and realize that all of those people I failed, and that the only way I can make it up to them is if I continue to protect the living. And as such, this mission…. is utterly important.”

  
There was a brief silence from the participants of the ship before an answer came to that.

  
“...That invasion has been eating at you, hasn’t it?” Quill asked, quietly nodding to her.

  
Nova Prime’s silent nod told the story as much as he needed to. From that and her passionate words, to the amazing price offered, and finally ending at the fact that it was their responsibility to protect this galaxy from all that was dangerous, it seemed to resonate within the eight of nine Guardians present that this was a job that they couldn’t refuse at the moment. Darting his eyes around the room one last time to check if any of them would refuse, Quill turned back to the screen and smiled.

  
“Welp… yeah, I guess that means ‘yes’, so… hooray?” he shrugged with an unconfident posture, “So… when do we need to report to the Nova Corps Headquarters?”

“We’ll alert you when it is time, and when the scientist also arrives. It will be a while, though try to refrain from leaving the planet in the meantime,” Nova Prime answered, “I will leave you to your evening.”  
  


After a good-bye, the ship began to brew a plethora of multiple topics. How this was the easiest damn job ever, what supplies they may need, if they wished to go back and party again, etc. And yet, during the midst of it, Star-Lord ended up finding himself cursing himself. Not from the aching pain of his shoulder from the laughable spill from his chair he ended up taking during mid-call, but the fact of one simple question: forgetting to ask who or what the scientist was. ...Oh, well. Guess they’ll learn that when they get to it.  
  


By the time he accepted it, he heard Drax call his name as the team decided to go back to the bar for one last round of shots, where as Kraglin switched with Nebula for a turn...  
  


And it seemed that the woman was even more thankful for that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this was rushed; been going through some troubled times. Let me know if I could update this chapter better!
> 
> Thanks so much~


	8. I'm in orbit like a jet pilot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hooray for the title of this chapter being another reference to Switchfoot (Float is the song).
> 
> Also, decided to give you a longer chapter than normal, due to how the last one was small. Enjoy~

“Honey…. Despite me respecting the fact you don’t want me to say your whole name out loud, I want you to at least picture me saying it as I say this: Morse, I cannot believe you bought that much soda with the government money you were given.”

Well…. True.

Guess over two hundred twelve packs and two liters  **may** have been a  **tad** over the line.

But boy, was it a long two days.

The moment their meeting within the living room had ended, Morse’s wrist was grabbed by his mom, lugged into the backseat of her suv, and followed Fury back to the labs for the funds they were going to provide the family for his trip with her and his stepdad. And not even before they started traveling was Morse thrown into the ‘adult behavior talk’. You know that one; where you’re going off alone somewhere away from your parents, and they continue to stress the importance of being ‘on your best behavior’ or ‘to act in a professional manner’ like a music track kept on repeat. It’s not Morse was going to complain about her saying it, however. This was different than going to another state. I mean, seriously. Comparing traveling to Harvard to **going off the planet**  is really stupid to try to say it’s the same thing.

Upon getting to the labs, Morse was greeted by some of the fellow scientists there. It was kind of awkward. Like mentioned before, he was considered the ‘outsider’, or more accurately the ‘reject’. He kept to himself, and as such, he didn’t really have any bonds with the other researchers. Thus, many people left him alone to do his own thing. So suddenly having all these adults several decades older than him coming up and congratulating him felt really strange.

But more so, a part of his head couldn’t stop the guilt flowing back in. He should be proud to be doing this, yet every single scientist who came up, he thought that this was another person he was stealing this chance-

Holy crap, that ship is amazing!

Yes, before the family and several government agents hit the road to begin their shopping trip, Morse and his family were allowed by Nova to come and explore the inside of his ship. It was a beautiful thing; the best model of a ship one would see out of a sci-fi movie couldn’t even do his spacecraft justice. With a deep metallic blue with gold near the four winged edges, the massive size was barely able to be contained within the special air hanger there. Add the cloaking devices outside, and this baby was safe and sound.

And the inside of it was amazing. The walls a beautiful, sleek black color with grey floors that had blue lights installed to guide the pathways to the cockpit or multiple rooms it resided in, all three members of the human family were utterly in awe. Monitors depicting each of the systems the ship had, gorgeous seats made of a material that felt like leather yet softer, incredible space to move freely within the ship… the list of amazing things could go on. Frankly, in the very depths of his head, Morse felt the urge to start examining the ship and find out how it ticked. But he wasn’t about to lose favor with a superhero who was willing to put up with him traveling to his employer’s planet, so… no go.

However, underneath the bottom of the ship was the cargo bay, and saying it had massive space was an understatement. Its glorious size would be excellent for grabbing a shitload of materials and necessities to bring along and store there.

And thus, the family and the government agents were off, heading to large stores in order to successfully grab the amount of items he would need.

Okay, side note.

Do you know how embarrassing, yet freaking amusing it is for your mother to hand official government agents, who frankly have better things to do (you know, like fighting terrorism?), paper lists so they know that they need to buy over one hundred body sprays and shampoos for you, and what specific brand to get?

Wow, talk about that being the worst.

Okay, maybe not the worst.

The worst is when your family and said agents occupy all the checkout lanes buying your stuff, and all the customers behind all of you, who by the way have been staring at all of you since you walked through the doors or would still stare at you as you traversed into the parking lot, are still gawking at you in confusion mixed with surprise or attempting to take photos and videos with their phones. The latter in which several of the agents have to hurry towards them and delete said photos and videos while preventing them from doing it again or other new customers attempting their first time. Hell, some of them are giving you dirty looks or impatiently playing with their phones as if to say ‘hurry up with your shit’, completely ignoring the precious fact that this isn’t something that happens on a daily basis.

Good thing Morse’s hoodie was still on. That hood went up, hands in the pockets, and smiled into the neckline of the thing while waiting out this hell.

Actually, screw that. That’s not even the worst thing.

The worst thing is that Morse couldn’t look at his phone or take a walk around the store like he usually would do when with his family. Like the times you’d shop for school, college, or a simple grocery trip where your parents were okay with you doing that, as long as you were ready to go at the end of the shopping visit. Nope, not this time. Every time his eyes looked away from the item they were getting in their carts, he tried pulling his phone out of the pocket of his shorts, or he attempted to move away from his parents and the group of agents, his mom or stepdad (mainly his mom) snapped at him to pay attention and lectured on how this was so important. In front of friggin’ government agents, no less! Customers, bad enough. But these guys!

And that was just day one.

Five in the morning hit, his light came on and his mom clapped loudly to wake him up, giving him just enough time to finish the soda can he had opened near his bed. It was day two, which also was the final day. And that was the hardest thing ever to do within five hours before being at the ship at ten in the morning.

Going over the lists of what they bought.

How many times it took for them to make sure it was right.

Realizing some things they forgot or didn’t get enough of, so they sent those agents to go grab them.

Packing nearly every article of clothing he had, and even making a trip to some stories to get good articles of clothing as emergency backups.

Taking a shower not once, but twice to make sure he was good.

Paperwork full of waivers and other shit to sign in order for him to go.

Managing to convince his mom into letting him take his video games with him.

And most importantly, being able to slip out of his parents’ view for just a second in order to give one of the agents heading out on said shopping trips one last list which was the most important: the soda list.

All of that… leading up to this one moment.

Morse, his mom, his stepdad, his boss, Fury, Nova, and Captain Marvel all standing outside of the hanger that opened up, revealing Nova’s ship as the agents were finishing up the last of his stuff going into the cargo bay. And that last things where the crates of two liters and over a hundred twelve packs, all equaling over two hundred in total.

Cue to the present quote.

“Honey…. Despite me respecting the fact you don’t want me to say your whole name out loud, I want you to at least picture me saying it as I say this: Morse, I cannot believe you bought that much soda with the government money you were given,” his mom looked at him, frowning in disappointment.

The young man shrugged, looking upwards with a carefree smile and his hand grabbing onto one of his backpack straps, “Hey, I’m gonna be gone for who knows how long on an alien planet. I doubt three or four twelve packs are gonna last me the entire time I’m there, and who knows if they even have soda there. Better to be prepared like you say, right?”

On Morse’s shoulders, his black laptop backpack resided on top of his purple hoodie which contained it, the power cord, phone, mp3 player, gameboy, and a few books to pass the time. If he was going to travel, he oughta have some of the things he brought with him he could enjoy on his free time to have on the ship with him. His outfit was slightly different too, now that his appearance is lightly touched upon. His hoodie, goatee bead, hat, and headband where the same. But the bottom half had become changed. Orange flip-flops with a dark blue athletic pair of shorts that had a small orange line going down from the hips. He decided to give his old Nike sandals a rest and try a new look for the time being... if you could call it that?

“So much for ‘less of what you want’,” Mr. Logan laughed, shaking his head at the answer his son gave.

Fury grumbled at that remark. Sure, that was funny to them, but not to the person who was in charge of said money being spent. He looked towards the agents stocking the ship as he tapped on the head scientist’s shoulder, directing him towards them.

“Wait here; we’ll be right back.”

The family nodded during the same motion of the S.H.I.E.L.D director motioning both Nova and Captain Marvel towards them. As the trio was left alone, it gave the family a chance to speak. Frankly, it was a nice drive from the house to here. Apart from his mom’s voice cracking and her failing to fight back tears, of course. It was filled with tales of some of the accomplishments he had done for S.H.I.E.L.D that he promised the two of them a few days ago. He could feel a gentle smile on his face when his parents gushed over things or kept asking curious questions.

Almost… happy.

But now, the two were turning to him and looking at him. His stepdad with a sad smile that showed he was proud, but didn’t like the fact he was going away. His mom, on the other hand, with a red nose and puffy eyes, obviously drained from the recent round of tears and guaranteed to have more before he would head out.

This was it.

Time to be serious for a moment.

“So… it’s the day you go off world,” Mr. Logan said, folding his arms, “...How are you feeling right now?”

That… wasn’t a question he wanted to hear right now.

In a rare moment, Morse’s smile was non-existent. It was replaced with an emotionless, yet small thin line.

His eyes looked towards the left, focusing on nothing.

His thumbs began to rub back and forth against the sides of his index fingers buried within the pockets of the hoodie he had on. It made a weird noise similar to a small cracking or possible like a cat purring from the texture of his fingers’ skin.

“....Tired, really. Groggy in a sense,” he said, shrugging while avoiding eye contact.

Mr. Logan nodded and adjusted his feet into a better standing position.

“Anything else?”

Morse began to slightly rock on his heels.

Eyes towards the right, focusing on the ship. And only the ship.

“...I dunno. Nervous, I guess. I always hated flying and heights, so not exactly looking forward to the trip. And just… new places take a lot of time to adjust to,” he said, a failed attempt at his classic smile etching its way onto his face with a chuckling exhale that seemed exaggerated.

He was treated to a soft laugh, which eased him up.

“I mean, sure, but you got used to Michigan pretty well after we moved up here, right? As strange as this Xandar place might be, I’m sure you’ll get used to it after a while. Don’t you agree?”

The rocking stopped, but Morse’s eyes finally locked onto his parents and nodded. He instantly looked down, however.

“Yeah.”

“Any other feelings?”

“...I’m upset. About what Fury said.”

His mom finally spoke, the first time since they got out of the car.

“You mean what he said about your father?”

“Yeah…”

_“So… what’s this about not telling my dad about this?”_

_Morse’s eyebrow raised up with his usual aloof expression towards something he didn’t like, but underneath, he was pretty concerned. Especially if he and his mom just heard him right._

_“We need you to refrain from telling anyone else, whether it be family or friends, about this mission you’re going on. That also includes your father,” Fury explained, folding his arms as he stood in their kitchen facing him._

_Well, that was a bit… not cool._

_Being previously mentioned before, his parents divorced around the same time he had finished graduating from college. And as his mom remarried, Morse chose to go with her. For various reasons. And none of which had to do with his dad. Why they divorced, he felt, frankly was between them, and he had no business knowing or taking a side._

**_But make no mistake: his father wasn’t a bad person. He didn’t abuse him or his mom, nor was there any bad blood between them._ **

_His father was a great man. A strong and intelligent mind who did masonry for the majority of his life, he was now a postal carrier for the US mail and mowed people’s lawns for his other job. He was a calm, loving, and honest hard-worker who deserved every penny he got, went to church every sunday, and taught Morse many things in life. Like his love for basketball or getting him into the music of artists he loved now, like Fleetwood Mac, The Doobie Brothers, Kiss, and so much more._

_However, during his childhood, the relationship with his dad… wasn’t exactly as strong as it could’ve been._

_So when the divorce happened and he was given a choice on who to live with, it wasn’t a surprise to either his mom or dad that he chose to go with her and moved to a different state._

_But that doesn’t mean he shut him out of his life. Oh, no no no. In fact, the opposite was true. Morse had gotten him a cell phone. The two would talk every night they could together about their day or the latest scores of games if the NBA season was on. If calling wasn’t an option, texting was their guaranteed go-to._

_And he told his dad about everything._

_So imagine his pause when Fury tells him he’s not allowed to tell him about this._

_Morse felt his teeth on the right gently bit on the inside of his lip. His right eyebrow went up._

_“But why? My mom and stepdad were allowed to be told about this; they get to know everything, but my biological dad can’t?” he asked, emotion remaining calm and curious._

_“That’s different.”_

_“How so? He’s also his parent; he has the right to know if his son is going off the planet for government work,” his mom chimed in, thankfully on his side._

_It appears Fury was prepared for this kind of response when he said, “It’s because you and your husband were here when we disclosed this private, confidential government job to your son. Not only is your presence a determining factor in you being allowed this information over his father, but the fact that I was able to watch the both of you in the room and come to the judgement through observing your actions that you will not share this information, that we can trust you on this.”_

_It’s at that time, Morse’s boss had walked through the room with some paperwork for Fury and overheard the conversation. That, and saw the confused faces of the two. Time to help explain it!_

_“What Mr. Fury is trying to say is that because you and your husband were in the room, you know that this is something that must remain private and we can trust in you. Morse’s father, on the other hand, is in another state and we can’t verify if he won’t tell others about it,” he attempted to elaborate better._

_And that seemed to really stick, because Morse chuckled a bit._

_“You got a point there,” he said, taking a breath while adjusting his hat._

_His mom rubbed at her forehead with a tired smile, obviously from all of this planning, and agreed, “I also understand too. He’s a good man, but Steve does often forget about what’s supposed to be a secret and speaks about things with other family members.”_

_Fury nodded, “Exactly. And we don’t want him telling others, who would gossip and begin to spread this information and let it get out of control, as well as exposing classified information. That is why you are not allowed to text your father about this.”_

_Morse sighed, his smile smaller._

_“But he’ll know something’s up. When I go off planet, there’s no way he’ll be able to call or text me with how far apart I’ll be-”_

_“Which is where I come in,” Nova called towards them, walking into the room as the boss took that as a chance to hand Fury the papers and head back out._

_His mom furrowed her brow, “Huh? How?”_

_“Well, I assume you still wanna communicate with your dad, as well as your mom and stepdad, right?” the hero asked, gaining a nod from both son and mother, “Well, lucky for you, I’ve got these!”_

_In the index finger and thumb of his left hand, he held a tiny glowing blue chip… that looked like the size of one of the circular 2032 batteries._

_“If you will give me permission to put these in your phone, laptop, or whatever electronic device that requires internet connection here, this will allow your devices to make calls or connect to other devices on Earth while you’re on Xandar,” he said with a smile, “I know they work, because I used some of them before on certain devices.”_

_“So you’ll be able to still chat with your father, as well as stay updated with me on skype,” his mom said, excited for this chance to be able to talk to her son the entire time he was gone._

_Ahh, yes. That was something his mom stressed about asking her question about Morse’s protection. Nova had hinted he had something that could solve that and ease her worrying, but it was only until now did he reveal what that is. That’s good. Being able to speak with his parents, specifically his mom, was a big must, and now a very real possibility thanks to this solution._

_“But before you do that,” Fury reeled them back in, lifting a hand up for them to understand, “I need you to understand now why I’m asking this of you. Do we have an understanding of not telling anyone else?”_

_Morse blinked a few times silently with a thin-lined mouth before he shrugged and the calm smile reappeared. He wanted to say no, but that would be too much effort.Taking a hand out of his hoodie pockets, he waved it off._

_“Sir, yes, sir.”_

“Yeah, I understand, honey,” his mom said, giving him a sympathetic smile, “I know you want to talk to your father about this. But this is a very important job that you need to be professional about.”

“...Just… don’t feel good about having to lie to him,” the young man shrugged, a humorless, strained smirk bouncing on his lips while glancing back at the ship.

Those eyes were brought back to his mom walking in front of him and placing a hand on his shoulder. Her smile was enough to make the smirk on his face turn into a happy smile.

“I know. But in a sense, you wouldn’t be lying if you told him you’re working for the government,” she tried to reassure, “As long as you keep that information to a minimum and tell him that you’re working for the government, you won’t be necessarily lying to him. ...I know it’ll be hard for you, but I know that you can do it and if worst comes to shove, he’ll understand.”

Morse nodded while accidentally slipping his right foot out of his sandals. He quickly fixed it. But his face showed instant discomfort within the millisecond he put it back on. He fought back a grin and kept it to a smirk upon hearing his mom laugh slightly at his antics. The antics being him dangling the sandal by the velcro strap that went over the top of his foot with his toes and jiggled it around to get the tiny bits of dirt and pebbles out of it.

“...I also expect you to dig out your sneakers out from wherever you packed them and wear clean socks when you meet your employer, so something like this doesn’t happen,” her tone of clever cockiness resonated to his eardrums.

See, this is where he got it from.

Morse let out a soft laugh and nodded, “Yes, ‘o mother of mine. I’m make sure I don’t look like a homeless bum when I meet this ‘Nova Prime’ person.”

“Scouts honor?"  
  
“Hehe. Scouts honor.” 

“Lemme see your true face then.”

Oh, geez. This routine.

The ‘true face’ routine was something his mom did to him ever since he was a child. Whether it was her joking around to get her son to laugh or to honestly check to see if he was lying didn’t matter. The result was always the same. Which will be explained right now.

She stepped up right in front of him, their bodies touching. Unlike with him being a child and bending low to his level, she stood on her tippy-toes and got straight into his face. Her head constantly moved while her eyebrows constantly went up and down in a random pace contrasting with the other. His memories from being a child recalled that this was her ‘analyzing’ the truth. If he truly wasn’t lying, he would pass the test by not smiling for a good ten seconds.

The problem with said test is two issues.

The first being that whenever he lies, Morse tends to smile or smirk; that much is indeed true. But he also tends to do both whenever he’s nervous, which completely leaves the question of whether he’s lying or indeed anxious.

The second and biggest, glaring flaw was that his mom would purposely do things to make him laugh. Like smile silly, dart her eyes around, wiggle the eyebrows rapidly, continue to get close to him…

Just like she’s doing now-

Morse’s grin caught fire and exploded wide. His head refused to look at her anymore, shaking during his wheezing laugh. It was made even harder by Mr. Logan laughing and his mom smirking at him.

“All right, enough of that,” he said, rolling his eyes while adjusting his hat.

She folded her arms and nodded, “You’re right. I trust in you, honey. I know that you’ll do great, though.”

He had begin to move his head in agreement to her, only to appease her complimenting boost to shatter the rising tides of his nervousness. He stopped halfway awkwardly and his grin disappearing with both eyebrows raised in alertness. Both of the parents turned to see that the four figures previously with them had returned. With Fury leading the front, he stopped and held his hands together behind his back.

He seemed to be apologetic for stopping the family from spending some time with Morse upon speaking these words, “Everything of his has been loaded onto Nova’s ship. You’re ready to take off whenever you’d like.”

The statement seemed to send the real deal feeling out towards the family. Despite knowing for over two days about the implications and risks, and preparing for such a trip, this… really was real.

Morse was really going to go off planet.

Both minds and hearts were taking this information in when Captain Marvel walked over to Nova and gave him a gentle tap on the shoulder.

“I guess this is where I part and finish my role in this,” she said, happily shaking hands with the male superhero as an ‘until we meet again’ goodbye, and turned to address Morse with the same gesture, “I wish you luck in doing whatever they need of you, okay? Stay safe and work hard!”

“You got it,” Morse winked, carefree in replying and shook her hand.

Captain Marvel gave a few more goodbyes to the remaining people before ascending into the air and flying off, probably to patrol or do what superheroes do when there isn’t crimes of any calibur being committed. At least, that’s what Morse thought. 

His eyes drifted them to his boss walking up to him with a sad, yet proud smile on his face.

Oh! Dr. Iverson! Yeah, that’s his name!

...Seriously, why couldn’t he have worn that nametag on his lab coat like the other tim-

“Morse… I know this may not seem like the appropriate time to say this, especially when you are about to experience such a once in a lifetime opportunity here, and yet… I want you to know how much we’re going to miss you in the labs. I know you strongly dislike us saying this to you and that you argue against it, but I stand by the fact that you’re our best man. Your ability within the scientific research industry is a rare gift, and I know for a fact that it’s not going to be the same without that or your laid back personality.”

The young man had to work on shoving any comment that disagreed with him or similar thoughts down from flying out of his mouth in response to listening to him. He took a step forward and sighed.

“I know, right? Now you’re gonna have to find another person who nearly is late every day,” Morse shrugged, flashing a cheesy smile that made the scientist laugh.

“Haha, maybe! Even so…”

Dr. Iverson said, offering a handshake to Morse, and patted the smiling researcher on the shoulder once he took it, “I know that if anyone can figure out what that unknown object is, it’s you. And all of us here from S.H.I.E.L.D wish you the best of luck.”

Morse smiled.

“You got it, boss.”

Dr. Iverson took this and nodded, non-verbally declaring that this was it for his farewell. His feet walked backwards while not turning his back on them. He gave space for Fury to walk up to the chosen candidate for the job. The director took his sweet time before standing with his arms still behind his back. And closing his eye for a second, he opened it up once the words came back.

“As Captain Marvel and your previous employer have stated just now, the government, especially S.H.I.E.L.D, are grateful to you for taking this mission. But I also want to make this perfectly clear. You are going to represent not just your country, but the very possibility of even the entire human race. As such, the safety of the United States, as well as the whole world, rests on your shoulders. I’ve seen your work, so I know you won’t crumble to this kind of pressure,” he said… as he shocked Morse by also extending his hand, “And with that, I thank you for everything you’ve done to ensure the safety of our country, and I hope that when you return, you will continue to work with us.”

And with a total of three handshakes now, Morse extended his right hand once again and gave a firm shake, not before adding a clever little comeback of this, “I might be interested, though I’d love to come back to a great paid vacation. That’d swing my interest in continuing to work here.”

Fury glared.

“Don’t push it.”

“Righto, boss.”

His right foot took a step back while working alongside the spin to give his body a pose of calm and chill submission to ‘not pushing it’. It was at this moment now that Fury had stepped back alongside his boss and watched politely.

In time for the part that he knew was going to be the hardest.

The good-byes to his parents.

And damn, was his mom making it super hard by tearing up and fighting back her sniffling sounds. Even more so to where the tall stepdad had to come and give him that proud, giant-ass wide smile and slap a hand to his shoulder.

“All right, now. Looks like you oughta get going,” he bid farewell, “I know you’re going to do your mom, dad, and I proud. Stay safe and do your best. And remember, I love you.”

“...I love you too, Dale,” Morse gave a small, yet true smile in return, giving him a quick hug before he watched him back off and let the person who was currently… well…

On any other occasion, his mother would’ve tried to **at least**  wipe the snot rolling down her nose. But she was just caught up too much on this that he couldn’t blame her. Especially since her voice had dropped so deep in an attempt to prevent herself from cracking and just howling in front of the government agents right there and then. And sadly, to be perfectly honest? Morse would’ve burst into laughter over this, if it wasn’t for the fact that this was probably the most serious time of his life.

Well… besides…

“So…. I-It’s time to go,” she said, visibly shaking her center of gravity around by the trembling mass unable to stop from crying.

“....Yeah.”

Well… that was a shitty thing to say in response. Then again, you expected something better from-

But in all honesty, words failed him. His mother crying was the absolute worst blow to his emotional wellbeing. Like a knife being twisted in his stomach. What was there to say? There just wasn’t. And that’s honestly the worst part of whenever his mom cried. All he could do was weather the storm and wait for her to stop. ...Or he could do this.

Giving her his classic smile, he opened his arms and offered a hug. She instantly took it, her sobs increasing in volume due to her face shoving itself somewhere between his left ear and the top of his shoulder that merged near the neck. Her arms locking themselves around him, he closed it on her. This was going to be a loooooong, hug. Especially since he was going across the universe for God only knows how long.

“Make sure that… y-you are always on your best b-behavior…” he heard her plea, and nodded.

“Of course.”

“Always get to bed on time and get enough sleep. G-Get enough to eat, and d-don’t drink through those sodas so fast.”

“I will.”

“Do your best at all times. And please, promise me after you get all set up and the surgery is done… you will text me, and then skype me every night to give me assurance that you’ll be okay…”

At this point, she just started to cry a bit. She was given a kiss to her temple as Morse rubbed her back gently while finishing it off with a few gentle slaps.

“I promise.”

A final kiss to his cheek, and the mother slowly let go. She walked back towards Mr. Logan, who wrapped his arms around her as a comforting support. Of all the times where he had accepted the fact that his mom had remarried, this would be one of those specific times where he was glad someone could be her rock when he wouldn’t be there.

But… enough of that.

Burying his hands within his hoodie again, Morse placed his vintage, carefree expression back on and nodded.

“Well… I’ll see you later. I love you.”

“I-I love you too…”

He instantly turned upon hearing the frail, trembling tone speak to him. He couldn’t look her in the eyes anymore like this, to be frank. Which is why deep down, he was in gratitude to Nova. The galactic superhero walked to his side and gave him a smile.

“All right. Let’s start heading out then.”

A nod came from Morse, and the two men made their way towards the ship, walking up the ramp that led inside. Nova obviously faster than him, he managed to make his way up before the bigger figure got around three-fourths of the way there. He then proceeded to disappear out of view. No surprise, since he most likely was going towards the cockpit to start up the ship. A few seconds not after however, did Morse make it to the top and into the ship.

It was a weird… feeling. Despite everything, it was only now that the situation… kind of hit him.

He really was doing this.

Taking a slow turn around, Morse glanced at the people below one last time. The sounds of a massive engine he had never heard before whirling to life and the movement of the ramp raising up was his signal that this was his last chance.

His eyes glanced towards… his boss, who he will not mention if he has or has not forgotten the name already, giving him a reassuring smile.

They went to Fury, who gave him a nod, never the serious face leaving that man’s head whatsoever.

Then… they went to his stepdad, who was smiling and giving a wave.

Only to land… on his mom, breaking down and waving, only to hide her face with her hand as she sobbed.

He grinned and snapped the right hand instantly out of his hoodie to grab at the brim of his hat. The upward tilt of his head allowed them to see the smile still plastered on his face as he gave them a wink. His non-verbal goodbye, before the ramp and other parts of the ship closed him off from view and sealed the ship up safely from the vacuum of space that they would inevitably face.

And yet, despite said smile staying…

It was only until he was completely out of their view did his hand drop limply to his side and his eyes close.

He made his mother cry by taking this job.

And now, he feels like a scumbag for doing so.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Heights.

Who really likes them, right? I mean, besides superheroes who could fly or pilots… ehh, semantics.

Anyways, the beautiful damsel of heights and him go a long way back. Way before he had gone to Harvard for college or even graduated out of high school. But despite the reassurances of his family, Morse utterly hated it with a burning passion of ten thousand suns. Having a phobia would seem like the sugar-coated way of stating this. Whenever he had to go on airplanes to visit relatives, it would be a constant state of needing his mom to give him support in order to not panic. Even when given dramamine, it didn’t seem to do anything. Hell, there were times where the tiniest bit of turbulence would hit, and he’d grip the arm rests of his seat so hard, he had a random passenger ask if he would be alright.

So… one would expect him to panic.

And yet, standing in the cockpit, leaning his body slightly leg to view around the class of the front as best as he could, he watched as the planet he was born on grew smaller and smaller… and yet couldn’t find it in himself to be afraid.

‘The mysteries of the unknown’... perhaps maybe that’s why he’s so calm? He didn’t know.

But more importantly, he was actually staring up into space. Watching as the stars twinkled, as if calling him by his name and yearning for his attention. Is this how people like Neil Armstrong or those Russian astronauts felt when they went up into space decades ago? This sense of incredibly inspiring, yet calming experience. How they must’ve felt being up here…

He wondered what they’d think of seeing him in this ship passing stars.

Or how the ship is currently passing Jupiter, the planet he claimed as a child in fifth grade was his favorite of all the solar system. How he, some random kid who got lucky with his findings in S.H.I.E.L.D, is currently going further into space than the famous people to do such a thing.

“Heh… breathtaking, isn’t it?”

Morse’s body straightened up and turned back to see Nova smiling at him, glancing over briefly before his eyes glued back to the screen. This in turn caused him to give that lazy smile.

“Heh, sure is. I wonder if NASA would have a fit about knowing in under five minutes, I’ve traveled further into space than them,” he chuckled, turning away from the glass to move towards his seat, which was on the other side, but a seat distance behind Nova’s.

Nova shrugged, “I can see that. No offense to your profession, but our planet’s… not considered one of the brightest, technologically advanced civilizations.”

“Ouch. That bad, huh?”

“Yup. It’s considered a ‘backwater planet’. In terms of our world, that’s like somewhere in a second-world country and a third-world one.”

“Heh, that makes sense,” Morse’s voice jiggled a bit with a snicker while plopping himself down into his seat with a grunt, “The guy who invented the lightbulb was a genius, but he ended up failing a hundred times before he did it.”

He was rewarded with an agreeing hum. Smiling, he slightly slid his legs apart to find his black backpack from earlier. Making a noise by unzipping the main part, he looked up at the driver of the spacecraft.

“Hey, man. Can I ask something?”

“Sure. What is it?”

“Do you mind if I vape a bit? I could use a quick puff.”

Nova turned his head to look over his shoulder for a second.

“Vaping…?” What’s that?”

“It’s like the ‘healthy alternative’ to smoking or whatever they call it. It doesn’t do smoke, but instead a vapor. So, it shouldn’t set whatever fire alarm this ship has off… I think,” Morse attempted to explain with his hands ceasing their digging within the containments of the backpack.

There was a brief silence that lasted only a second long. It was cut before the superhero spoke.

“If at all possible, I probably would like it if you could wait on that and refrain from doing it on my ship. Sorry,” he apologized, making his decision a firm no.

Morse gave a thumbs-up, zipping the bag up and giving him a smile.

“Hey, no worries, man. Totally understand,” he said, leaning back in his chair and stuffing the hands into his hoodie again, “I’m just glad those agents were able to get the e-juice cartridges on board. Hopefully, I can on this Xandar place.”

Nova didn’t look back, but obviously raised an eyebrow to that.

“Wait, really? I don’t remember seeing you pack anything of the like.”

Morse’s head slightly moved, causing the lights overhead to make the metal part of the headband tied around his hat glosson.

“You know all those crates that contained soda liters that I asked those guys to hurry and get?”

“Yeah?”

“I partially lied. A little under half those crates contain the e-juice cartridges, or what makes the vape, in them. Need them for the vaping tank.”

That got the superhero to turn his head and look at him.

“I guess I can take you admitting you lied as your way of saying not even your parents know of said luggage.”

“Oh, hell no,” Morse laughed, looking away and down with a grin, “My mom would beat the shit outta me if she found out I vaped.”

The man laughed in response, “Fair enough. Still, how’d you manage to hide said stuff from your parents, let alone your mother? Considering what I’ve seen of her, she definitely pays attention at all times.”

“Ohh, boy, you got no idea,” the big guy shrugged, hands in front of him, “Constantly shifting the items to the trunk of my car and back to my bedroom closet, and lost track of how many close calls. But you learn her patterns easily when you live with her. So, picking up on the cues she doesn’t realize she gives will in turn give you the advantage.”

“Mmm. Fair enough.”

With that, Morse attempted to get comfortable in his seat and closed his eyes.

“But it’s all right. Like I said, I’ll take a puff on Xandar when we get there.”

It would seem like despite the eyelids blocking any vision, the slight strained pause of silence seemed to suggest there was about to become something that he didn’t like.

“Well… I suppose that’s true, but… it’s going to be a while before we get there. We’re looking at a two week journey, kiddo.”

Morse’s eyes immediately shot open, staring up at the ceiling of the craft before sitting forward and hunching over to look at him with a humorous-looking look of what from face value seemed like uncaring.

“....Two weeks. I’m going to be on this ship for two weeks straight.”

“Haha, well, yeah! What, you think a safe journey from one end of the galaxy to the other is only going to be a day or so? Xandar and Earth are on completely different sides,” the superhero laughed, turning to look at him again, “It’s going to be a while before we get there, so if you really need to do this ‘vaping’ thing, we can always find a planet to stop on for you to do it. That is, if we can find one that won’t have any side effects from you doing it. Just to be safe.”

The information swirling in his head caused Morse to glance to the side without moving his head. Despite his strained half-smile now on his face, he more or less felt like rubbing the bridge of his nose in annoyed fatigue. Good gawd, he barely could stand the car travel his family did when they moved to Michigan from his home state. And that took a total of one day and a few hours. But that was given with being able to get out of the car in different areas, as well as being under two twenty-four hour days.

He’s now expected to stay in this one spacecraft for two weeks.

Well, fu-

“...You know, this is kinda something that should’ve been told to me at the beginning before I accepted the job?” Morse said, his smiling growing into a full one.

Nova shrugged.

“Sorry about that. It’s not like I meant to withhold this information from you purposely.”

Morse nodded, but looked around the cockpit before talking.

“I mean, I guess so. I still can shower and stuff on the ship…” he trailed off in an attempt to try and test his options, “...Hey, listen. I don’t wanna be that guy who complains at the start of this, but… is there any kind of a chance we could cut the trip down even shorter?”

His eyes locking onto Nova’s body were the proof of him searching for ‘hope’ of a quicker travel. Don’t get him wrong; he loved the ship. But two weeks of being cooped up here? Would anyone be able to go through with it? Plus, there was this so called ‘translator surgery’ he would need to undergo. And he wasn’t too thrilled about being faced with waiting that long to do it, possibly letting the nervousness build too much.

Soon, Nova took a breath.

“...Well… there is **one** method we could do.”

“Yeah?"  
  
“Yes. But… it’s highly ill-advised and not really safe for the body to take,” he said, gaining a raised eyebrow from the other man, “That method is… doing seven hundred jumps. 

“Jumps?” Morse inquired, leaning back in his seat.

“Yes. The Universal Neural Teleporting Network is located throughout the galaxy. A system of fissures in the space continuum, or more better known as jump points, can allow any ship to travel by ‘jumping’ from planet to planet within a short period of time,” Nova explained, turning to him again, “The thing is, as someone who’s never been on a ship before, I’m worried that going through a jump may make you uncomfortable. Especially with the risks involved.”

“Like what?”

“Well, it’s considered dangerous on a mammalian body of any species to do more than fifty at a time. The problem is that we’re talking about doing around, uhh… roughly seven hundred jumps to get from where we are to Xandar. Nobody has done that before and come out of it unscathed as far as I know.”

The purple-hooded figure nodded and leaned his head down to weight his options. It seemed like a risk, but…

Either stay on their course and wait a taxing two weeks. Or just do the jumps, survive it, and get this over with.

Mind is made up.

“...You won’t be getting sick either if you do the jumps, right? Because you’re a superhero?” Morse’s voice honestly surprised Nova, while stroking his goatee.

“I-I mean, not for me, no. My helmet and powers are able to protect me from any negative side effects of jumping more than fifty. It’s you that I’d be worried about in enduring th-”

“I say, we go for it,” Morse smiled honestly and surprised the man into silence, “I’d rather get to Xandar as soon as possible instead of waiting that long on a ship and dread having this surgery implant thingie happen. We’ll just do fifty at a time and wham bam thank you ma’am, we’ll be there sooner for your boss. Win-win for everybody.”

“...You’re sure you want to do this?”

“Positive, man.”

Nova almost wanted to object instantly to him willing to go through with it. But upon hearing him talk more and mention doing fifty at a time, his once steadfast refusal slowly buckled in. He closed his eyes before nodding and deciding to go with it. Why the hell not, right?

“All right, then buckle your seatbelt, kiddo,” he said, readying the jump system to do their first set of jumps, “Stay sitting at all times; I’d recommend you keep your eyes closed, just in case. That way, you don’t feel sick as we do them.”

Alrighty!

The terran happily clicked the seatbelt across his body, trying to ignore how tight it was against his belly. And the fact this was an alien seatbelt thing made it hard to see if he could loosen it up somehow. With a pacifist shrug, he buckled himself in and used his legs to keep the backpack under his seat.

But no way was he closing his eyes. This was something he had to see.

A few noises from up front with the engines getting louder and the movements of Nova’s arms on screens he couldn’t see seemed to tell that it was time for jumping.

“Okay, you ready?”

“Let’s do this, buddy boy!”

“Gotcha… jumping in three… two…. one.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus, we're off to Xandar. Finally! Some ground being made. Special thanks to DLasagne becoming my beta reader. Hopefully, this is a great partnership with awesome times ahead.
> 
> Comments and feedback is appreciated; bye~


	9. Feelings of love and nausea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not gonna lie; I'm a bit worried with how well I did on Gamora and Nebula's relationship. Hopefully, someone will give me some feedback on how they think it went.
> 
> Also, please see the end note for an important... well.... note. Thanks~
> 
> Anyways, let's begin.

It had been the following day after the mission had been explained to the team. And to be honest, the ship had been pretty lax about it. Considering the inner desire to just drink the pain from their recovering wounds away. Sure, they were heroes, or better yet like her sister said ‘people who aren’t perfect, but moving down a path where they can become good people.’ ...That doesn’t change that fact that it seemed like a struggle or was mostly ignored, depending on which Guardian you were talking about.

At least, that’s how Nebula was seeing it.

And now, the Luphomoid assassin was standing near the dining quarters of the ship, her arms folded while leaning against the wall closest to the refrigerator. Reflection of the previous nights seem to be what was on her mind. She had been thankful to Kraglin for switching places with her, so she didn’t have to return to the uneventful bar that was supposed to be the ‘good time’ for the team. Frankly, with the only possible thing that could constitute being worth going there being that arm wrestling contest with Drax, she had made her mind up about it being a waste of time.

Being able to remain in her quarters and plan potential ways on how to kill Thanos, however, had turned out to be a wonderful night. How she would spill her “father’s” blood had consumed her every thought. And to be honest, she had been surprised that Drax, who had declared it his life’s mission to take Thanos’ life, or even her own sister after all he had done to the two of them did not join her.

Well, whatever. Thanos’ death wasn’t going to plan itself.

She had gone to the kitchen to clear her mind for a bit from said death-planning and get something to eat.

...Okay, she really went into the kitchen to get away from Star-Lord’s music at the moment, which one could hear the faint echoes of it outside of the room.

Don’t get her wrong; she could see, in a way, how the songs were slightly enjoyable to the point where her sister and the others would hum, sing, or even on rare occasions when the terran wasn’t on the ship, dance to them. But there were only so many times where she could listen to the same few, thirty songs he had. Twelve from the so-called “Awesome Mix Vol. 1”, thirteen from the second one that he managed to somehow get via download which had been destroyed during their battle with the planet father, and then five brand new ones that he somehow got, though she would admit she didn’t know how.

But whatever this one of the new five songs was, something about a ‘rubberband man’ by a group who spun around or whatever foolishness it was, had become a favorite of the team, and personally was driving her insane with how much it played.

So, she was eating a piece of fruit (which was ripe this time, by the way, unlike that cursed Yaro Root) in the kitchen, because she mercifully found out by pure coincidence that the music system Star-Lord had on the newly upgraded Milano reach the confines of this room. Thank the gods.

That is until he thought about spending some of their money to install an extension of said system for the kitchen. Curse those gods.

Her thoughts were disrupted upon the footsteps coming down the hall towards the left in front of her. Upon looking up to see who approached, she had realized that the fruit had been sitting in her hand and in front of her mouth for an unknown period of time. She lowered the food away from her and was glad to see the person making their entrance came into the kitchen area before she was in an awkward moment.

That person was of course her sister, Gamora, and her eyes locked onto her the moment she made her way. Her black coat slightly swaying after her movements ceased, her hands stayed every so still to her side.

“So this is where you’ve been hiding, Nebula,” she said gently, “You normally don’t stray away from your usual spots of your room or the hangar.”

The assassin moved her head about a centimeter to the left to glance away from her.

“I was hungry.”

“...And that stopped you from usually taking food into your room why, exactly?” Gamora asked, raising an eyebrow.

Ever the sharp eye her sister had. It had been close to four and a half years now that Nebula had joined the team, and although many things had changed in their relationship as sisters… things that for the wide majority were positive things, one of the aspects between the two that hadn’t morphed into something new was Gamora able to read her very easily. No matter what.

“...Because of the music the captain insists we listen to plays within the hangar and in the hall near my room,” she admitted, looking up back at Gamora.

The sister slightly nodded, “I understand. Peter’s choice in music can be a bit… eccentric for someone’s taste. I honestly am surprised you’ve gone this long without mentioning something about it. Do you not like it?”

Nebula shook her head, “The majority of the music selection he insists on playing is tolerable. I have no issue with it for the most part within that reason. It is just that this particular one blaring throughout the ship is the one I detest.”

Gamora ended up smirking.

“Which happens to also be one of my favorites.”

“Hence why I have tried to hold my tongue about it.”

The smirk transformed into an understanding smile.

“You don’t have to worry about upsetting me when it comes to not liking the same songs I do,” she reassured and then offered while raising a hand to help illustrate her point, “And Peter is understanding. If you really dislike the song that much, I’m sure he’ll listen to you and not play it as much for you.”

Nebula shrugged.

“Perhaps, but I don’t want to risk it getting out I dislike a song. Especially since some of the others have that habit of annoying me with their antics.”

Gamora instantly realized what her sister actually meant. She was talking about the ribs, or “pranks” more like it, where several of the Guardians would joke with each other. The four main suspects were Drax, Rocket, Mantis, and Yondu; while not all the time, those four were mainly the culprits. Here’s how it worked; Drax getting Mantis to do stuff and taking advantage of her naivety, and Rocket and Yondu screwing around as best buddies. That was essentially it. And now given the knowledge of why, she had to admit that one of the four would definitely play her least favorite song on purpose to annoy her.

The Zehoberei took a step closer and offered a solution, “If you’d like, I can privately talk to Peter about it, so that way no one knows about it and you won’t be subjected to such behavior.”

Nebula paused, only a split second before bringing the fruit to her mouth to take a bite. The loud crisp, crunching sound of her teeth sinking into the sweet fruit is what she hoped would mask her barely visible shrug of the shoulders.

“If that’s what you wish, so be it,” she let her know that her solution was satisfactory, before looking back at her, “But that can’t be the reason you’ve come searching for me, is it?”

In a state of uncertainty, Gamora looked down briefly before licking her bottom lip from being dry. She took a few steps closer and got directly into the heart of the issue: the reason for her arrival here.

“I came to check up on you.”

“What for?”

“Nova Prime,” she said, her sister’s hand lowering the fruit catching the corner of her eyes, “I know you heard what she said about our new members and such. And I couldn’t help but think about you mainly when she brought it up. So, I wanted to ask how you were holding up.”

The Luphomoid assassin hesitated before even thinking of how to respond. True, what that commander on Xandar said did slightly catch her off guard. Hence why she tried to stay as quiet as possible during her call with the team. Well, that, and to be perfectly truthful… she could feel as if her eyes kept drifting to her and the ex-Ravagers throughout it when the group wasn’t looking at the screen and discussing whether or not to take this new mission of protecting a scientist. As if to judge or watch them carefully in a sense of distrust. She would admit she never glanced back at the screen to check, but her gut feeling usually was never wrong.

In the end, it didn’t bother her so much.

“It’s fine,” Nebula stated, her eyes closing while swallowing the piece of fruit she chewed down, “It doesn’t really matter that much to me. Even then, it’s logical for her comment. She’s right to be hesitant to trust me after-”

“Nebula.”

Her eyes opened to Gamora taking a few steps in and having a look of concerning seriousness staring right back at her. The head was shaking, so the interruption was meant to clarify something.

“I’m not asking what you think about what she said. I’m asking if you’re okay.”

“.........”

Oh.

Despite being on the team and with her sister, these kind of questions about her seemed to be right outside of her comfort zone. Then again, when you go your whole life with people not giving a shit about how you feel, you tend to envision yourself as exposed and weak when the opposite begins to occur.

“...I’m …indifferent. And uncertain. On how I should feel about this matter, the clear answer eludes me,” she admitted to Gamora, who nodded in acceptance to her truth, “It’s just… it’s hard being a Guardian after what I’ve done.”

“Okay…”

“...And yet, it’s tiresome. How after years of being apart of this team-”

_**We’re no closer to defeating Thanos-** _

“I’m still untrustworthy in the eyes of many clients. I… understand that this woman would be so hesitant, since this is the first time since Ronan’s attack she’s seen me, and… with what I’ve done… but…”

Her words trailed off the moment Gamora’s hand rested on to her shoulder. The two sisters looked into each other’s eyes before the green-skinned one spoke.

“I understand how hard it is to right the preconceptions of yourself from others due to your past actions. Really, I do, and so does the team. And yet, I hope you don’t let the opinions of others drag you down,” she tried to reassure, “I’ve seen what you’ve done with us over the years, and I know you’re no longer that kind of person. I promise that the others view you in the same way as well.”

“...We’re not perfect, but we’re moving down the path where we can become good people…”

Gamora blinked as Nebula repeated the Guardians’ motto that she had spoke to her after the battle against Ego. For a brief moment, though no smile appeared, her sister seemed at peace.

“That is the motto of this team, correct? I have not forgotten it. And although this may be hard currently… I shall do my best not to.”

The comment seemed to give her sister a content smile. Watching her grow from a person who obsessed with Thanos completely to at least a point where she could focus on other things… she had to admit it gave her relief. Granted, their father’s death was her primary focus on life, but again, the ability to see past that now and focus on other things for the time being was welcoming. It gave Gamora that hope that eventually, Nebula could maybe move past this pain of the past.

It seemed that whatever else she was thinking of seemed to die out, for her eyes locked onto her sister’s. She apparently was staring with confusion past her shoulder. Turning around, they happened to see-

“...How long have you been standing there?”

Gamora’s question addressed Drax, who had somehow slipped into the room without them knowing and was just standing there, eyes locked onto them. Yeah, that’s another change that has happened for the Guardians. Somehow, the muscular, ungraceful giant has somehow managed to make his way into a room without anyone noticing. It was honestly a major feat, considering he could do it to both assassins, three former Ravagers, and the raccoon who had expert hearing. If it wasn’t for the fact a tiny bit disturbing…

“...Since you both started your sisterly bonding,” Drax said, his arms remained to his sides.

A disbelieving scoff came out of Gamora’s lungs when she glanced away to the side. She had begun to shake her head to accompany the obvious unhappy noise that would be oblivious to the Destroyer, only to see that there were others in the room near the doorway to the kitchen she had appeared from. Mainly… it was Yondu, with nearly the rest of the team behind him. Minus Groot, of course, who had probably barricaded himself in his room with that infernal device.

“...Seriously?” the frustration was now evident in her glaring voice directed at them.

Yondu simply shrugged.

“Hey, don’t lookit me. I’m just here to watch the arm wrestlin’ thing Drax wants,” he said, starting to grin when he turned his attention to the warrior.

“The what?”

“Your sister managed to defeat my winning streak back at the bar that experiences flooding, yet has no water,” Drax explained, looking towards Nebula, “Thus, I want to reclaim the honor of my glorious arm muscles and defeat her in turn.”

Gamora obviously didn’t see her sister cock her head in interest at the sudden challenge, for she was too busy looking towards the rest of the Guardians with a burning fire in her eyes.

“...And you’re supporting it?”

“Oh, yes! This is the first time I have witnessed the ‘arm wrestling contest’!” Mantis happily proclaimed, clapping her hands in front of her with a bounce.

Quill waved both hands in front of him as a defensive action, “Hey, I’ve never seen a guy like Drax get sent flying in an arm wrestling contest; I wanna see it!”

“I already did with Yondu back at the bar, but I’m up for seeing it happen again,” Rocket grinned, making his way inside the room to get a good seat for it.

Kraglin seemed to be the only one who was indifferent. He shrugged.

“Don’t really care at all. But I g’t nothin’ better t’ do right now.”

Gamora brought a hand up to her face, the fingers delicately rubbing at the bridge of her nose in an effort to calm her mental anguish away from the situation. She had to use all of her inner strength to snap at Drax for walking to the kitchen table and scrapping the floors with the seat he’d sit in for the contest.

“Friend Nebula! I shall best you and reclaim my honor as the bar arm wrestling champion!” he said, already getting into position.

The assassin only looked up when she felt movement behind her. Her hair moving at the same time as her head, the form of her sister caught her field of vision looking back at her while moving towards the table.

“Don’t worry, sister. This won’t take long.”

It seemed everybody but Kraglin took those promising words as a challenge and got hyped up, various levels of cheering or clapping happening as they all began to crowd the table. Gamora felt herself just stunned… yet honestly pleased to see Nebula engaged in such a thing. Despite how annoying and stupid she felt it was like. So, when her sister went to get a chair, she couldn’t help but try and fight a smile from appearing on her face. Even more so when she could see Quill out of the corner of her eye smirk at her with that dumb look of his. Still, it wasn’t that bad.

No offense, Drax.

She definitely would be cheering for her sister to win.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

“U-uergh…. oh…. ah gawd…”

....Welp, that was fun.

As in ‘never doing that shit again’ fun.

After all, Morse’s now in the bathroom closest to the ramp leading outside of the ship, on his knees, with his scraggly face leaning over the royal throne, barfing out his insides. One hand was grasping the goatee, so it didn’t end up covered in vomit. The other had the elbow resting on the toilet frame and keeping the hat and headband from falling off whenever he suddenly launched forward.

It was like a blur. One moment, he’s getting ready to go. The next, he feels like he’d be in a simulation for a race car driver or something multiplied by at least one hundred thousand times. Like, his entire body was forced back into the seat, the eyes widening a bit with both sudden nervousness from a feeling he’d never felt before and regret for actually encouraging this.

It was only when the ship began to shake did he really begin to regret his impatience to traveling.

The space beyond the protection of the spaceship began warping, with many vibrant patterns filling his vision. All kinds of what appeared to be different sections, with planets he’d never seen before and other colors being in the galaxy besides the voidless black he’d known for all his life. He would’ve asked for Nova to stop briefly, so he could view said things for a split second. But he found himself unable to do so.

Why, one may ask?

Because of the ship picking up speed beyond what even would say that even the Fourth Hokage could travel at (he’s a Naruto fan; the headband, remember?), Morse found himself unable to control the beginnings of a scream of terror. Not only that, but his entire body was crumbling at the seams. For some odd reason, he felt his eyes warping in and out with a shifting feeling; growing in size would be the subtle way of describing it. Even the rest of his face felt altered. He remembered hearing a Bill Cosby comedy routine where he described going on a roller coaster, and the feeling of wanting to close his eyes, but the eyes wouldn’t, not just because of the wind keeping them open, but the eyes themselves saying “they don’t believe it”. While the latter was true enough for him, the former was the stronger grasping. And it was starting to feed into the fear emotion and make him feel very sick to his stomach.

He tried to close his eyes; honestly, he did, and so very hard. But it’s like how fast the ship was ‘jumping’ through the sectors, the eyelids and the feeling of altered proportions of the body had taken a metaphorical stapler and kept the suckers open. He even tried to raise his hands up to physically attempt to ‘blindfold’ himself, but whether it was actually happening or the eyes playing tricks due to the shifting feeling, his fingers became disfigured constantly. So did the rest of his body.

That’s about the time he was trapped in slow-motion while everything around him was going at the speed of the fastest fast-forward known to man, losing count of how many jumps it had been up to the point. And while ultimately failing, he tried to look up and call to Nova to stop.

Only for the brakes to come out of literally freakin’ nowhere and his body to launch against the seatbelt violently, pressing hard against his chest, shoulders, and stomach.

He didn’t even register the pain or make a hiss due to it. He couldn’t. Hell, he couldn’t even move. He just fell back onto his seat and stared ahead. Such a shame his brain wasn’t functioning at the moment. Otherwise, he’d come to recognize a planet in front of them, similar looking to Earth on the outside, and it was getting bigger. Obviously due to them entering the orbit.

It was at this time that Nova hit a few buttons on the screens in front of him and then turned to look over at him.

“Hey, you doing alright? I heard you start screaming,” he asked, giving a worried look on his face.

Only after he finished speaking did Morse’s head turn to look at him. A dull, yet utterly worn down, ‘I was just screaming my lungs out’ face had been carved into his features. The silence was a bit unsettling to him, too. It was as if the human could understand him, but couldn’t recall the way of language. He was about to ask again if he’s okay when Morse suddenly lowered his eyelids, making his tired gaze close to closing. Almost in an incredulous way, but minus the incredulousness expression.

Only for them to shoot wide open in urgency.

And his left index finger raising upward to signal for him to wait.

With finally his arms panicking to unbuckle the seat, freeing him from his shackled necessity.

And ending with the ungraceful and slow (for his body type) sprint to the nearest bathroom.

...Oh, he’s-

Nova pursed his lips upon hearing the sounds of the poor man’s regret coming to life and out his mouth.

And now, back to the present.

The superhero rubbed the back of his neck a bit unsure of how to follow. It’d be rude for him to talk smack of ‘I told you so’, but at the same time, the human asked for this. Due to his emergency takeoff down the hall, the driver of the spacecraft was left with zipping up the backpack he had left behind and waiting for his passenger to finish up in the bathroom… preferably not making a mess he didn’t want to clean up. But to his hopefulness, the noises ceased after a while with just heavy breaths coming from the room. Once a flushing sound was heard, he was confident it was finally over.

He moved to the door, with its advanced way of splitting open into a few parts to open up, and looked towards Morse. The big guy had just pushed off his feet and rubbed at his face with his left sleeve. He moved to the sink and began washing his hands when he looked over.

“You okay now?” he asked, holding the backpack by its strap.

Morse exhaled rather loudly while finishing up, “...Yup. Sorry ‘bout… throwing up in your toilet.”

“As long as that’s the only place you did it in, I’m okay with that,” Nova laughed, gaining a smirk from the scientist, “But still, you ought to take it easy. I’ve seen a lot of people who’ve never traveled in space before have negative reactions to ship-jumping for the first time, but one of them going for seven hundred right out of the gate? I finally get to say I’ve seen someone do that now.”

He probably meant someone had never been so gawddamn stup-

A wave of nausea hit Morse again. It obviously showed, due to the galactic superhero taking two steps back instantly. But slouching his body and clutching his right hand into a fist, he felt himself glaring at the sink. Sort of like it was taunting him to throw up again and make Nova’s day a living hell. Nope. No way. He wasn’t doing that. Closing the eyes and swallowing whatever saliva was in his mouth seemed to do the trick for the time being.

After turning on the water from the sink one more time to take some into his hands and drink it, eliminating the awful taste out of his mouth in order to help, Morse stood up straight and rocked a bit on the balls of his feet. Don't even know if it was safe to drink, but anything's better than stomach acid flavor.

“Yeah, not doing that again,” he said, breathing relief while looking at him, “...How come you’re not affected like I am?”

“Besides the fact I’ve done more than seven hundred jumps before? I already told you, but it seems the jumps messed you up a bit, that you don't remember asking me already. But it's okay,” Nova answered, eliciting a somewhat shocked look from the laid-back face of Morse, “The helmet I wear has special powers, and one of them is the ability to protect my body at going through those intense speeds. That way, I’m safe from what you’re feeling at the moment.”

Morse nodded around the same time he felt his stupid digestive system turn upside-down again. For crying out loud, it was really working against him at the moment. He mumbled a ‘mmm’ to that response alongside his sighing groan.

“Again, you alright?”

“Yeah, I just… I think I need some fresh air right now,” he said, taking the backpack from him when it was offered.

Nova chuckled, “You look like you need it too. Well, we arrived, anyways. Let’s get you off the ship and we can go from there.”

As they exited the bathroom, a thought had popped into Morse’s head.

“Just want to check, first… we’re on Xandar right now, right?”

“Yes, we are.”

“Okay, good, because I couldn’t remember due to the jumps and running to the bathroom…”

He adjusted his hat and looked away. Honestly, he wasn’t too embarrassed by it. He was more like bummed. It would’ve been his first time watching himself ascend into a planet’s atmosphere and getting to see a glimpse of what Xandar looked like. But that didn’t happen, thanks to his push for the seven hundred jumps and needing to vomit so badly.

Just like him to screw up a chance to see something like this, the fuc-

“...but anyways, does Xandar have the same kind of qualities Earth does?”

“...Not sure what you mean there.”

Morse talked with his hands and looked at him, “Like, do people breathe oxygen? Is that what you breathe here, or do I have to get some kind of a device that helps me?”

“Oh, I see. Yes, it’s oxygen, just like your home planet. You don’t have to worry about that,” Nova smiled, both of them approaching the ramp, “All known species in the galaxy breathe oxygen.”

“Welp, that’s a relief. Hate to have to think aliens would be too complicated,” Morse smiled, swinging the backpack over one shoulder and holding the strap to keep it up.

It’s just he remembered a long while ago from a cartoon series… TMNT 2003, if he was right, where the turtles were up in space. They ended up being in the Triceraton Republic as prisoners. When that happened, it was revealed that the Triceratons breathed “a hearty mixture of nitrogen and sulfur”, however the hell they could do that, and that the four turtles needed these devices that clipped onto their waists and had a tube that went into their mouth that would take said the air around them and turn it into oxygen. So, when he felt that fresh air was all he needed, a part of him became uncomfortable thinking about the possible requirement of having to have some kind of thing like that in order to be able to breathe. It would’ve been a challenge for sure. But thank God that wasn’t going to happen.

..Gee, all species breathe oxygen, huh? Good to see aliens could be simple and similar…

With a button on the side near Nova being pressed by him when they passed it, the ramp began to lower. And from there, a sudden chilly breeze swept into the ship, enlightening it with fresh air. And it seemed to be just what the doctor ordered. Morse felt all the urge to run to the bathroom vaporize instantly into nothingness. But upon noting his relief, he felt something else. Something strange, even.

The fatigue from waking up super early in the morning to prepare the last of his trip with his family and the S.H.I.E.L.D agents was gone. In fact, he felt stronger and revitalized, as if running laps around a basketball court, something he’d struggle with doing a few due to how big he was, seemed like an easy feat and could do for over at least a half an hour. Was there something about the oxygen here that made him like this? Perhaps, it was more pure than anything on Earth?

The ramp coming down, he had kept his head lowered and thus only focused on the ground outside. Wherever they landed at, it had the same color of a ground as from where they took off at the government headquarters. But surely when he would get outside, it would be very different-

Oh geesus, going down a ramp sucks. Especially since there’s no railings to grab at!

Morse felt himself grip his backpack harder and have to dig his heels through the sandals and into the ramp as best as he could in order to have the momentum of going down at a steep angle not send him rolling down in a bad landing. Seriously, going up was better than going down for someone as big as him. Not only that, he had to take slight baby steps and curve his body sideways in order to pull this off.

By the time he got down to the bottom, however… he looked out into the open… and was blown away.

“....Holy crud.”

What he saw before him was a city, all flat by as far as his eye could see. He was apparently on a high skyscraper of some kind, being able to look down. But the amazing structure and architectural patterns it had boggled his eyes. Throughout the entirety of it, it had either reddish-brown skinny trees or green messed-up leaf ones that could almost be mistaken for palm trees. But the amount of things he could see had grabbed his interest.

Too many things to list, but let’s see...

There were several sections where a river channel created to let some of the ocean water come into the city had its beautiful blue sparkle. There was this giant battleship in the form of a coffee table or bench looking thing to his right that was about as high up as he was right now. Past that, there was some kind of a suspended globe object with tons of plant life and trees on it. Along the left side, it seemed to be suspended highways or a walking path with many shops. It also seemed like holographic, floating screens were present throughout what he could see past the trees, and they would change colors every now and then. Probably advertising? Hell of a lot better than dumb, boring billboards along the interstate.

Still… it was wonderful and breathtaking. Especially enough to make him forget about his fear of heights. He felt for a moment like this wasn’t real. Just some complex dream his mind played on him. But walking to the edge of this railing and placing his hand on it, the cold metal-like surface against his free hand seemed to really deny this assumption. He felt a smile grow as he looked around some more.

He only realized his backpack was sliding off his shoulder when Nova suddenly appeared out of the corner of his eyes. He looked to see him smiling proudly and motioned his head towards the city.

“So… what do you think?” he asked.

Morse nodded and chuckled, “It looks really cool. Like a world from a Final Fantasy game.”

“Final what?”

“It’s a video game series from Japan. They’re known for making these beautiful and creative worlds; this city looks just like something they’d make,” he elaborated, shrugging, “And you’re telling me I work here? Nice.”

“I know, right? I mean, I miss Earth sometimes, but Xandar’s a great place to work in too. One of the safest cities on the planet,” Nova said, nodding.

The eyebrows of the big guy lowered in confusion.

“Wait, I thought Xandar is the name of the planet.”

“It is. And so is the city.”

“...So, we’re on Xandar which is located on Xandar,” Morse said, snickering with a shake of the head, “Okay then.”

Nova seemed to only give a tiny shrug. He probably was going to say something, but then a loud noise came in from behind him. The two looked to see a large door from across wherever they landed had opened up and out came these men, about six of them, with what appeared to look like Robocop ripoff helmets that clipped under their chins. They strangely looked like humans, with their skin and body structures being nearly identical. They wore blue and black military suits with some symbols on their right shoulders. But they also had these weird chest plates with glowing yellow circles and lines on them.

Either way, Morse was definitely realizing he wasn’t on Earth anymore.

Despite his carefree, yet emotionless look being directed to them, he couldn’t help but feel nervousness bubble up in his chest as they approached with guns. It even bubbled up more when he realized one of them had their eyes trained on him specifically. The one who did ended up continuing to walk towards them, with the other five stopping behind him a ways behind. Obviously to guard the perimeter, Morse couldn’t help but feel like they were glancing at them as best as they could.

The one who came up to them looked towards Nova and offered his hand out to him. Looks like they do handshakes here-

...What in the hell kind of language is that?

The guy was speaking with words and sounds he’d never heard of before. Like, at least with something like Spanish, Japanese, German, or whatever language back on Earth they had, he could at least rely on the fact that it was a language he knew existed and had translations. This? This sounded like random gibberish he’d make up as a child when he was bored or something. It was mind-boggling.

No, scratch that. Make it downright mind-blowing when Nova actually responded to it.

“Yes, it was a safe trip. Thank you, soldier,” he said, shaking the man’s hand.

Around this time, Morse’s mind was able to hold on and maintain control and composure, but he couldn't help but feel he almost slipped into full panic mode the moment the soldier turned to him. He offered his hand, which he quickly shook. But it all just crumbled beneath the iron mask of his when the guy started to talk to him. He could feel his skin go cold when he obviously stopped, waiting for a response.

“Uuummm….”

He could feel his eyes threatening to dart around in said panic. Gawd, what was he supposed to do?

In an attempt to look calm and collected, yet find a scapegoat to the situation, he instantly turned his head to Nova. The superhero’s eyes meeting his, he hoped that the non-verbal message of ‘help me’ would be conveyed.

For once in his life, something went right.

“Don’t worry. I got this,” the man chuckled, patting his shoulder before turning his attention to the man, “Soldier.”

The man in blue turned to look at Nova.

“I’m afraid he’s not going to understand what you’re saying. He doesn’t have a universal translator, and he hasn’t undergone any surgery to get one yet.”

Apparently, him not having one was a great shock to the welcome party leader. A look of surprise flashed across what was visible of his face, before glancing back at Morse. The human had to fight internally with one hundred percent of his drive to prevent a nervous look from overtaking his expression.

The soldier said something with a concerned tone of voice, glancing at Nova for a second before his eyes trained back to Morse.

“We’re going to get that sorted out with Nova Prime,” Nova explained, with the human glancing at him after that name drop, “Right now, just get his stuff to where he’ll be staying for now. Either she or I will brief you on where to go from there.”

The soldier nodded and put his right fist to his chest. Probably some kind of salute?

With that, he turned around and motioned to the other men. Three of the men came over and followed him when he walked past the two who just traversed through space. The other two went back towards the door, standing guard as several more of the same kind of dressed men and women began making their way to the ship.

And here was Morse, stuffing his hands into his pockets, and purposely leaning closer to Nova to talk.

“Um, okay, I’m lost; what just happened?”

“The soldiers who are walking to the ship are going to unload your stuff and move it to where you’ll be staying. We’ll get to showing you said place in a while,” Nova explained, getting a nod from him, “I let them know we’re going to speak to Nova Prime about getting you a translator. For now, we should at least go to her, so we can set you up for a time to get the surgery for it.”

He pushed aside the anxiety from that future procedure in order to address his inquiry about that person.

“You said something about Nova Prime back when we had that meeting with my parents. Is she my new boss?”

“Yes. Irani Rael. Former soldier in the Nova Corps who rose through the ranks and ended up becoming the commander of it. She is the one who is interested in hiring you.”

“Okay… what is the Nova Corps, again?”

“It’s a police and military force dedicated to serving and protecting Xandar,” Nova answered, “We’re currently at the headquarters right now, so you’ll be working within this building most likely.”

Morse smiled, stroking his goatee.

“It protects the city Xandar, or the planet Xandar?”

“Both,” the hero smirked, ignoring the wheezing snicker, “It also acts as a major hand within the government. So much to the point that the Nova Corps has a very high position of power to where it even protects neighboring planets and sectors, not just here. It’s almost like the galactic police force of the galaxy itself.”

A shrug came from Morse’s body as his hands came out of his pockets in front of him.

“Wow. Out of one government’s hands and into another. Except this one’s more scary sounding. Can’t catch a break, I guess,” he smirked.

He saw the other man roll his eyes and begin walking towards said door. Morse took one last look behind them at the soldiers now entering and unloading the ship. Hopefully none of them are clumsy and break his games, or God forbid, spill the soda.

“Guess not. Come on, we oughta go meet up with Nova Prime to discuss where to go from here,” Nova said.

He silently nodded and made his way towards the building after him. But upon taking about five steps, his mind remembered something from the word ‘here.’ That’s right! Letting his mom know they made it! Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he swiped the screen open with his thumb and tapped the message icon. Locating his mom’s number lead to him typing a quick message saying that they had arrived, he was safe, he loved her, and said he’d see her later. But upon the moment he hit the send button, he realized he broke a promise.

Looking nice when going to meet his employer. And yet, here he was with the same stained hoodie, worn-out sandals, and other stuff his mom wouldn’t approve of.

Well, he didn’t exactly have the time to change, but…

Sorry, mom. Looks like he’ll have to make do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus, Morse is now on Xandar. Finally, we're getting to the good part.
> 
> So, for my important note, I want any long-time reader who's followed the story since I started it to note a change. Instead of the story taking a few months after GOTG Vol 2, I've gone back and re-edited parts to make it be four and a half years since the events of that movie. My reason being that a friend of mine said that the reason why Groot was a teenager in Avengers: Infinity War was because four years had passed. So, in order to keep the continuity of Groot being that teenager age, I've made that edit. Sorry for the confusion and thank you for understanding.
> 
> Comments and feedback are appreciated!


	10. Now we're getting somewhere!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter. Just a little under 1,000 words shorter than I usually do, but I wanna do it right when I'm not so focused instead of having a crappy, long chapter.
> 
> Let's begin.

It was immensely funny to him, upon walking through the giant entrance where those soldier people had come from, that how his mind would wander when he was nervous-

Well, okay, he wasn’t **nervous** -

...Alright, fine.

He would acknowledge that, **yes** , being addressed by an alien who was for all he knew speaking the official language ‘mumbo jumbo’ of Xandar while looking like he ripped off Robocop’s head and took his helmet for his own uniform? Not exactly something anybody would be exactly ready for. So, fine, he could admit that being suddenly thrusted into that predicament could rattle anyone’s nerves, even his, and while he managed to recover beautifully, he imagined himself being placed in the hot seat standing up.

But maybe it was a more… appropriate and better describing word for such a carefree and lax person instead of nervous to say… ‘unsure’.

So let’s back that up, shall we?

It was immensely funny to him, upon walking through the giant entrance where those soldier people had come from, that how his mind would wander when he was **unsure** of the circumstances surrounding him or what he was progressing to.

You see, while Morse was good at maintaining a consistent emotional state…

...As well as not being too much of a fuckh-

One of the things that couldn’t be helped sometimes when being exposed or pushed into situations beyond his experiences would be to let his mind wander. To process said situations, or being reminded of something similar, ...or yes, even if he was nervous (which he wasn’t, by the way; let it go, okay?), the reasons could be different, but one of his many reactions the same.

And walking side-by-side with Nova into this giant door and looking around, his mind starts to wander instantly.

His eyes carefully view the sleek, cleanly reflective grey walls that looks like some of the best kitchen floor tiles you ever could see, but the lines of the squares are so thin, you barely could see it unless you were super close or had good eyes like him. The ceiling was surprisingly high up, despite how they were at the top initially, and looking up only made him feel like he was at the bottom of a giant tower already. And in front of them was a circular elevator, made of Xandar’s variation of glass with silver-goldish outside, and a solid blue floor with the same symbols the soldiers had on the shoulders of their uniforms. Its roof had stopped to their level and obviously wouldn’t go any higher, so that means the duo’s trip was a descending one.

This is where the wandering mind comes into play. Because Morse can’t help but begin to think of these movies and their sets where whether there’s a conversation or silent walking, the camera shots showing the area around them as the character it’s focused on is walking to their destination. Sort of like now. And it’s making him feel like he’s in a movie at the moment. What, with being ‘the chosen one’ out of all the scientists he worked with back home, on another planet, going to meet the person ‘who needs his help’...

This is really becoming funny.

And apparently enough to create an audible noise out of him that showed his amusement to said humor.

“Well, you suddenly got into a good mood,” Nova said, smirking at him in which his attention was grabbed.

Morse scoffed laughingly, a grin only overtaking half of his face at the moment, but the side the superhero could see. He looked over when it deteriorated to a smile.

“Nah, it’s nothing,” he casually lied, holding the bill of his hat for a few seconds, “Don’t worry about it.”

The older man shrugged, but accepted the answer nonetheless.

“Alright then. Hey, listen to me for a second, though?” he asked for his attention.

They kept walking. Despite their continued advancement to the elevator, the human did look over and give him his undivided focus.

“Yeah? What’s up?”

“We’re going to be heading into the military headquarters of the Nova Corps. I trust you enough to know this already, or at least be relatively aware, but still.. Be mindful of what you say and how you act here,” Nova warned kindly yet firmly while motioning with his closest hand, “Like the different cultures of Earth’s countries, gestures and words that may have one meaning on our planet can be vastly different things here. And while Nova Prime is lenient and understanding, it’s wise not to constantly do it, regardless of it being accidental or purposely, and end up annoying her with your behavior or words. Especially since you’re representing America and Earth itself, like Fury said.”

Ouch, not that much faith in him to not remind him of being on his best behavior.

He couldn’t really blame him for that, considering how much of an imbe-

Morse looked away and bit his lip for a few seconds before shrugging. He turned back with his classic smile.

“As long as standing perfectly still with your hands in your pockets or waving at someone isn’t considered an offensive gesture, I think I won’t land myself in deep doo-doo with her,” he joked, but his tone gave a solid and sincere answer of ‘I understand’, “As for talking? I don’t think you have to worry about that, Mr. Superhero. Especially since I don’t understand a single thing a Xandarian or whatever other species says anyways. I’m just gonna keep my mouth shut. So, no problem!”

A snort out of Nova got him smiling.

“Is that confidence or nervousness?”

...Okay, fine, you win.

“...Oh, I won’t deny that someone who I can’t understand making random noises to me and expecting me to talk back is not exactly something I want to jump into again,” Morse admitted as they were only a few steps away now, shrugging with his smile not evaporating from admitting the truth.

Nova looked over as he replied, “Just stick close to me and don’t talk unless I say it’s okay to, and we’ll get through the preliminaries of you arriving here. I’ll make sure anyone who talks to you is translated through me.”

A simple nod of understanding came from his brain and proceeded through his body. The two both on the same level now, each of them took a step into the elevator. As Morse had felt a vibration from his hoodie pocket, it was obvious to him what was up. Mom must’ve gotten the text he sent a few seconds ago. She was gonna be watching that phone or Skype application like a hawk for anything he’d say to her. While his attention focused to his hand pulling the phone out and swiping it open on the touchscreen, Nova had pushed one of the buttons on the right near him to go down.

The glass door closing, their descent, and the clear glass showing the views of the various floors of the headquarters almost became non-existent to Morse as the message app loaded up and showed her message. His index finger opened it up to see the text and smiled at the words.

_Thank you thank you THANK YOU for letting me know you’re safe. I wish you all my love and luck when you meet your employer. Tell me all about it when you’re done, turkey lips._

He felt the nervousness slip away into the void of nothingness when reading that. She always knew how to erase his anxiety when he couldn’t do it on his own. As he pulled up the reply section and began typing the letters for his response, he couldn’t help giving a sigh.

_Thnx. Love you, mom. Talk with you later._

As the send button hit, his heart felt both relieved and disappointed in himself. He was happy his mother didn’t bring up the question of whether he looked good and professional for his boss, because he didn’t. Not in the least bit. Once again, he had a good reason why, but still… scouts honor and true face had been vandalised with the disgraced vulgar air of breaking a promise.

His lips went back to an emotionless thin line as his hand buried the phone into the hoodie again. And what timing too! Because when he looked up, the elevator door had dinged and opened up, getting him to look up and to follow behind Nova into…

...a really cool-looking room.

It appeared to be the main war room or something, but it was something that looked like this Earth work office. The floor was the most normal part here, with grayish-blue tiles. The walls and ceiling was pure white from the right side of the room where they got out and the middle. But to the left, it curved with this sort of slant and led to windows, of the same size and shape, all near each other with different sections and window shades. It showed the city of Xandar outside if one would peek through them. Under the windows had a tiny yellow glowing light, obviously to help light the room in the night if he had to guess. There were two white columns that went through the floor and up through the ceiling, obviously for support; one near the elevator, and the other down on the other side of the war room near the windows. On the far side away from the windows was machines that either were vending machines or filing cabinets, which had another room that had larger windows behind them; Morse shrugged. It could swing either way, but that wasn’t really the main focus on the room. For within the middle of the room were three giant, circular table things that served as holographic monitors, showing what appeared to be the city of Xandar on one, the entire planet on another, and something on the last, but he couldn’t see currently from being so far away and just walking out of the elevator.

Damn, this looked like an awesome war room. Not that he’s been in one before.

And now he’s come to realize the rather… well… awkward scenario he’s in. Not that he’s indecent or that he’s already done something offensive to Xandarians. But it’s with Nova’s next words that he really seems to get the concept of what’s about to really bother him.

“I’m going to go find Nova Prime and alert her that you’re here. Please stay here until we’re back,” he said, beginning to walk away.

“Hey-”

Before the human could get what he wanted to say to come to life through his vocal chords, the superhero stopped mid-step and gave him a reassuring look with a hand waving a bit.

“Don’t worry about other people coming up and trying to talk with you. Everyone here’s got a plethora of duties to fulfill,” he explained, “so they’re not gonna strike up a conversation unless if you go out of your way to start one. They might look at you, but as long as you don’t willingly walk up to people and just stay put, you’ll be spared future awkward endeavors. I’ll be right back.”

And with that, the previously mentioned awkward scenario happened. And… to be honest to you, it’s a bit… difficult to put into words. But here’s an attempt. Basically, here’s this futuristic, alien world with all these military people, with different species of all kinds of shapes and designs. But regardless of that, all of them are wearing these dark blue identical uniforms to where they’re like matching action figures or something. Not to mention, nearly every person in this place is the same body size; lean and physically fit. Nothing’s out of place.. Except for this new giant, scruffy man wearing a stained purple hoodle and bright orange flip-flops suddenly standing by himself. Like some druggie or homeless drunkard stumbled his way into the CIA headquarters and is just there, sticking out like an infected splinter lodged in your thumb. And like you would expect the analogy, there would be nearly everyone that our young scientist could tell either staring at him or constantly giving looks between co-workers and back to him while doing their duties. And the ones that really catch his attention are the ones who are talking- well, let’s be more accurate for you; the ones who **think** they’re being subtle and shielding their mouths while whispering to each other when he can obviously see what they’re doing.

Now, you’d think this wouldn’t be a problem. After all, Morse was used to people talking about him behind his back. Sorry for the third reminder, but the lab had essentially made him the odd one of the entire Chitauri research team. Not that he was disliked, but because he didn’t socialize, and thus he could see and hear people often speak about him. But this is so much worse than back at the lab. Not that he was upset and hurt by it, but that it twisted him to be concerned. Because back then, at least he could understand and somewhat rely on the notion that it was his own species. Yeah, breaking news to no one: humans can be dicks, and talk shit behind each other’s back. But different alien species who probably have advanced beyond anything humanity could even begin to dream of talking about you? That really can affect you. Especially now that Morse has been told that despite the technological advances of countries like America and Japan, Earth is a backwater planet.  
  
With that also being taken into consideration, it also brings up more importance to the statement he’s been told by people like Fury and Nova: he’s representing the planet. No, more like the entire flippin’ species of homo sapiens. Every single thing he’s gonna do from here on, regardless of good or freakin’ stupid, is going to tell other aliens that his species is exactly like him. Morse can feel somewhat of a futile light of hope in his heart that aliens aren’t as close-minded and dumb as humans and think that one person represents the entirety of a collective group. I mean, they’re better than that. Right?

...Right?

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Morse never is seen out in public without his basketball cap on.

His head lowered, the beard-engulfed face is shielded from any judgmental and/or curious eyes that may be peering into him from a distance, whether it be close or long. But just enough for him to look around and see them back. Like a one-way see-through kind of glass pane police stations have for their interrogation rooms. He can see them, but not vice versa. Like his own personal shield.

And while that is immensely helpful and allows him to maintain his calm demeanor, it drives him nuts because it’s like he’s in a hostage situation at gunpoint. If he moves, he’s gonna get jumped on by one of these people hoping to talk with him, and Nova as his only translator gone, he’s pretty much easy pickings. The feeling is made worse because that’s all he can do. Stand still and wait. He can’t do any of the other things he’d normally do while waiting. No way in hell he’s gonna pull out his stuff to vape, because he’s not that gawddamn stupid to start ‘healthy-smoking’ in an alien world’s military headquarters and piss off the future employer like that. And he feels too sheepish to get out his MP3 player to listen to music, or even his phone, which he’d gladly text his family now and strike up a tiny conversation to pass the time. Because either the aliens are gonna be interested to know what they are and come up to talk to him, start judging him for such ‘low grade technology’ and think he lives in some kind of prehistoric cave, or worst case scenario: they think he’s not supposed to be here and get a security guard who doesn’t know about him yet and throws him out, and then he’s gonna be forced into the city of Xandar on his own, which will force Nova, this Nova Prime lady, and the entire police force who just threw him out to do one of those movie cliches and search for him throughout the city before he really starts screwing stuff up.

...Has it been mentioned worst case scenarios tend to go through his head quite a lot, yet?

No pressure, right?

So, standing still like a tree and enduring the tensed wait it is.

That, and sending a silent, mental prayer to Jesus to have them hurry the hell up.

His eyes darting to the right a bit, he noticed two pairs of feet coming up to him. And one happened to belong to the superhero he had ridden in the ‘car’ with. His head raising up to normal level know, he looked to see Nova alongside a woman who was slightly shorter. She had blond hair, a bit more clean and brighter than his with beehive looking hairstyle where it was weaved into itself… however you say it. She wore a blue uniformed coat with a high collar in the back over a blue uniform that was over a white dress shirt that had three red and yellow patches on the left side of the chest; most likely for ranking. It had the same symbol on the shoulder as everyone else’s did, and she added that with black gloves, blue pants, and black heels that covered her whole feet.

So this was Nova Prime, huh?

Good shit. Thank you, Jesus.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

...Well, it appears that Nova… really wasn’t kidding.

Within one day of being sent out, Irani almost felt like she was being taken for a fool when a message had been received before her. Already found someone within the first twenty-four hour period to come and help? It must’ve been a joke, and one she did not find funny. But much to her satisfaction, it was revealed to be the truth. Nova had been able to contact her while this supposed researcher was preparing for the trip there. A Terran scientist from across the other side of the galaxy who was able to modify a Chitauri weapon into a gravitational reverting technology. That instantly made her at least willing to give this person a chance to offer their assistance, regardless of being on a primitive, unadvanced planet.

But the warning he gave her about how this person ‘was very unusual’ seemed rather odd to make and didn’t make sense at the time.

Now, it does.

What she’s looking at is this large Terran with stained clothing, an unkempt beard taking over his face with part of it hanging off his chin, some sort of a metal plate tied around a strange hat, and shoes that show nearly his entire feet. And he’s standing there with his hands in his pockets, like a normal civilian. He absolutely looks nothing like a scientist to her initially. She knows looks could be deceiving, but if it wasn’t for Nova explaining to her that’s how he dressed, she’d think he was a person who accidentally wandered into the headquarters and order to take him out of the building immediately.

It wasn’t until they seemed to get within his field of vision did this young man look up at her. While her iron mask stayed uncracked, she did allow herself to blink with slight surprise. That this man… is indeed that: young. Obviously pass his teenage years, but not by so much. She can tell it in the blue eyes that look at her within the shadows that the hat creates on his face. Such a youthful person is the solution to her problem?

While she can see the lazy smile on his face, she obviously noticed the tenseness in his posture. Having served in Xandar’s military, you pick up on the clues that the body, facial expression, or tone of voice someone will give very easily. It’s never easy going off your home planet for the first time. And with the unfortunate development of Terrans being secluded and  not having translator implants, it must be even more anxiety-causing to deal with unknown languages from unknown aliens.

Nova breaks the silence and stands to the side, so that he’s next to both of them, but that they’re face-to-face.

“This is Nova Prime Irani Rael, the leader of the Nova Corps and responsible for the safety of Xandar,” he stated, smiling as he looked back at her and then towards the young man.

Upon hearing that, the purple-wearing person in front of her, offering out his right hand. She noticed he kept his left hand in the pocket that his upper half clothing had near his stomach, and his smile increased in size.

“Hello, future boss ‘o mine,” he said, in a rather higher-pitched voice than she was expecting, and with a soft, laid-back tone, “The name’s Morse. Nice to meet ya. Though, sorry I won’t understand you right now.”

In all her years of meeting new and brave souls dedicated to protecting Xandar alongside the Nova Corps… she… probably couldn’t recall a time when someone referred to her as ‘future boss ‘o mine’. In fact, no, she was certain no one ever did. That, and combining it with a carefree-sounding tone of voice and being polite, despite the lack of professionalism. Then again, she never in her time of service, ever seen a person dressed like this whatsoever within a military building.

But still, he was polite, and that was enough for her. She offered a smile and willing took his hand, shaking it. This seemed to relax him too, and that was a good sign when they both let go.

“Nova,” she said, glancing at him, “Will you be my translator towards him for the moment? Please let him know that it’s understandable, it’s a pleasure to meet him and to thank him for his willingness to come here.”

The superhero nodded and turned to him, catching his attention, “She said that she understands about you not having a translator yet. She says it’s a pleasure to meet you and she thanks you for coming.”

Morse wanted to explain that it wasn’t technically right to say ‘willingness to come here’ and that it was more of an obligation because of his job, but that was a possible rocky start to this relationship to Miss Rael that he didn’t want the headache over. So, he adjusted his hat while replying.

“Cool beans. However, I do wanna say sorry, if I can?” he said, shrugging with a larger smile and looking away for a split second after he bent over and glanced down at his shorts, “I didn’t exactly have the time to change, so if I did, I wouldn’t be wearing this right now. So… yeah, heh…”

A smile graced Irani’s lips for a split second that he didn’t notice as she looked at Nova with a nonverbal cue to let him know it was fine.

“She says it’s okay. Besides, considering I was there, I can vouch for you on that,” he reassured, giving Morse a nod.

“Speaking of which,” he heard the woman begin to state and turned her attention to him, “That actually is a question I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“How come you and Mr. Morse are here within a few days journey? If I can recall correctly, Terra is on the opposite side of the galaxy from Xandar: at least a two week long distance,” she said, glancing at the young man before furrowing her brows with the urge to understand the reasoning behind this.

Nova’s body flinched at the realization of what he was about to say to her, “Well… the reason why we’re here is because we decided to do seven hundred jumps to get here as quickly as we could.”

It was like the horror of the facial expression mixed with ninety-nine percent of the denial of what just came out of his mouth and the single one percent of a rarity that is her wanting to begin laughing at how ridiculous that was. Thanks to her years of military experience, Irani was able to shove the one perfect figuratively out the window and to a gorey death while the remaining mixture of a dumbfounded look came into play.

“...You cannot be- … are you serious?” her words seemed like a harsh scolding, but the tone seemed to suggest more shock than anything.

The hero attempted to figure out the right words to say in order to explain the situation as best as he can. However, both Nova Corps members were surprised to see Morse raise his hand up, in a wave to get their attention.

“Hey, um… if this is about those seven hundred jumps thing, that was my stupid ass fault, okay?” he attempted to cover for Nova, “I didn’t wanna stay stuck on a spaceship for two weeks, so I kinda pressured him into doing it. My bad.”

The Nova Corps leader nearly did a double take at the language the young man just spoke. It reminded her of that other Terran- well, half Terran- Star-Lord, who ironically would be the bodyguard of this person. It was starting to make a possible connection in her head; were all Terrans like this: cursing like it’s a normal behavior and acting usually carefree? She didn’t seem to notice the look that her soldier was shooting her potential new employee. Apparently, Morse forgot that whole ‘representing Earth’ thing and saying things like 'cool beans' and ‘stupid ass’ or complaining about a journey’s timeframe wasn’t a good first impression.

He lucked out and didn’t even notice.

Good shit.

After a few seconds of rubbing the bridge of her nose, she calmly instructed, “Well, at least ask if he’s alright from such a thing.”

She watched as after Nova repeated her question to him, Morse chuckled.

“Yeah, I, uh… I took care of it in the bathroom. But I’m fine now. Though… it’s really kinda… uncomfortable knowing that I can’t understand anybody but Nova right now,” he said, chuckling once more while rubbing the back of his neck.

Ahh! Now that he mentioned it…

“I see… speaking of which, that’s something we ought to address right now,” Irani said, turning towards the superhero and gaining his attention.

“Yes, ma’am?”

“Our young scientist. He still doesn’t have a translator. And it’s going to become too much of an inconvenience unless he can get one as soon as possible. You’ve explained to him the procedure?”

The man nodded.

“Good. When exactly does he want to do this? I don’t want to rush him, but if there’s a time where we can get this done in the near future…”

She trailed off, but her point was pretty much made perfectly. Nova nodding, he turned to look at the person he brought before her.

“Hey, Morse?”

The boy had decided to look around the room and had his head turned to the left, not paying attention while the two had spoken. But now, he whirled his head back with his right eyebrow raised.

“Huh?”

“Nova Prime wants to know when you’re up for the surgery.”

Upon hearing that question came the despairing-filled dread that Morse knew there wasn’t going to be an escape from eventually. Taking a deep breath, he could feel his heart slightly pick up its beat faster, as well as the nervousness he felt from the living room when it was first revealed to him expand in his chest. The hat made a perfect blockage to prevent the two older adults from seeing him lick his lips, unsure if he really should go ahead and say what he felt at the moment…

“...If I can be honest, would it be too much to ask to do it right now and get it out of the way?” he said, peering past the brim of the headwear to glance back and forth slowly between the two.

Irani widened her eyes with slight surprise while Nova instantly had an expression of concern on his face. He tried to mask it with a smile, but it’s clear he had some incredulous amusement behind it as well.

“Are you… sure you wanna jump right into it? You said the same thing about the seven hundred jumps, and you instantly regretted it by sprinting to the bathroom,” he said, folding his arms.

A snickering scoff exited out of Morse’s grinning side mouth; yeah. You didn’t have to tell him twice about that disaster. But still…

“I know that, but… it’s just… like you already know, Nova, I don’t like hospitals or doctors. It makes me nervous,” he said, stuffing his hands into his pockets even further now and secretly being vague with his words, “And I get uncomfortable when I have to do things related to that, especially if they’re just regular check-ups. That’s why it’s… probably the best time to do it. Because if we don’t, I’m gonna keep thinking about it, become worked up about it, and get cold feet…”

He takes a breath before raising his head more to look them in the eyes.

“...to the point where I’ll flat-out refuse to do it,” he said, leaning a bit towards his right foot.

Nova nodded after he finished speaking.

“I can understand that. There’s no shame in feeling nervous about a surgery,” the man tried to reassure, “I suppose then we should probably get it set up.”

Nova Prime seemed to agree, for she nodded and cupped her chin in her hands.

“Very well. I’ll see to it that our medical division can set up a translator surgery, so we can get it done. Have him go down with you and they’ll take it from there. When he’s done and ready to come back, we can do this officially and begin with why we’ve brought him here.”

With Nova nodding, she turned to give Morse one last handshake; a goodbye for now one that showed off the professionalism. Thank God you didn’t need to be able to understand language to get the message she wanted to send. The young human gave one last smile and nodded to her before they shook hands and the woman turned to go back to work. With that, Nova lead him back to the elevator to go down to the medical section of the headquarters.

“All right. We’re going to go at least a few more floors down and we’ll get to the medical bay. Just stay close to me and we’ll be there before you know it, okay?” he said, pushing the buttons to go down.

Yeah… be there for the surgery.

"By the way," he said, catching his attention, "you did fairly good, but I doubt Nova Prime is gonna give you a pass for too long if you keep saying things like 'stupid ass'..."

The big guy winced, "S-Sorry. Just really tense at the moment, and I usually tend to forget..."

Nova smiled, waving it off as the elevator began to go, "That's fine. But, just try to limit it as much as you can. Anyways, I'll try not to barrage you with lectures; you're already nervous about the surgery and I'm assuming you've gone through enough with Fury back at S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Hah! No kidding," Morse said, shaking his head and looking away.

...Oh, he had to mention the surgery again and make him think about it. Gawddamn-

Morse couldn’t help but look up and keep glaring upward as he felt them descend out of the view of the people who he swore had been still watching them. A big exhale escaping his mouth, he felt his chest turn into a warzone of anxiety as they disappeared out of view.

“Ohh… crudmonkey…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus, next chapter is the surgery! Finally, Morse will be able to understand all who will soon talk with him!
> 
> Wonder if it'll feel weird with a metal device on your spine. *shrug*
> 
> Feedback is appreciated; see you next time.


	11. All I can see is grapes and Pepsi cans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good Lord, help me; I haven't posted since June!
> 
> Sorry, everybody; been invested in one of my other stories. Let's see if I can correct this with this chapter.
> 
> Let's begin.

The doctor’s head looked like a bunch of grapes.

No, he’s not hallucinating or on drugs yet.

He’s standing in the room the surgery is going to take place in, and is shaking the hand of a purple alien whose head looks like a bunch of grapes.

The kind you always see the Egyptian or Roman rulers laying on a bed being fanned by giant plants while an attractive woman lowers it to their mouth and then they bite one of them off.

Well, okay, maybe not exactly like that; it’s more accurate to say it looks like a gummy shaped like that, since his head was one form and not multiple tiny heads.

But still!!

So, upon going down the elevator, Morse’s anxiety level had shot up significantly. Not that anything scary was in his view; despite this doctor’s area being in a military base on one of the lower levels on an alien planet, it looked exactly like any normal office and building on Earth. With white walls, tiled floors, and brown doors that were probably some kind of wood from Xandar, they had skipped past the windows leading to the clerks, obviously with Nova Prime giving them clearance to go right into the room. But now that his feet were carrying him towards a place he never liked to go, he could feel his control on his nervousness being like a cap on a glass soda bottle and the bubbles and carbonation threatening to push it off, so it could escape. And while maintaining his mellow expression, Morse wouldn’t deny that it was a bit unnerving that he was having to go to a mandatory surgery.

They had gotten to a room where luckily, it was something he could understand. Room 617. For God’s sake, they had that many rooms? He would’ve guessed that they had a lot of rooms for injuries the Corps members would have, but considering as they were going into the room, he could’ve sworn he had seen room number 599…

And that’s when he saw Dr. Fanta: Grape Flavor.

No, that’s not his name, but he almost felt a part of him want to blurt it out in shock.

He had walked in behind Nova, and he was the first doctor he saw, ignoring the other one and a few nurses in the room as well. There were plenty of other species, and while not meaning to come off as racist, he had to admit that it was slightly disturbing that rather… interesting looking aliens were going to be cutting into his body and putting a device onto his spine that would link to his brain. And supposedly, the head doctor was the one whose head looked like fruit.

Upon finishing shaking his hand, the doctor went back to Nova and discussed a few things. It lasted for a few moments, allowing Morse to stand in silence. His eyes went over the room, and it seemed to only cause the dwelling anxiety in his chest to slightly be unstable. There were posters on the walls with various messages in Xandarian about medicine, disease awareness, and what appeared to be messages for certain species. But that was sort of creepy in its own way. Bad enough humanity suffers from things like cancer, asthma, pneumonia, heart issues, tumors… does this mean he’d have to worry about alien diseases? And how would his body react, if he didn’t die from them instantly, or would be immune to them?

Gawddamn it, he really hated doctors and medical things…

Forcing himself to turn his head for the eyes to no longer look at them, the table, which was like a normal padded bed with a blue flimsy sheet on it, was where he’d lay. But this one had a special part near the head, where it looked like someone’s face could go through it. Since the surgery would be on his neck, he assumed that his face would be in that as he was unconscious. And that was the thing keeping him from losing his cool: he would be out like a light when they did this.

It was when Nova turned to him and both he and the doctor that he perked up.

“Well, Morse, it’s time,” he said, causing the Terran’s heart to begin pounding within his chest, “Are you ready?”

“As ready as I can somehow force myself to be, sure,” Morse responded, giving a smile that seemed strained.

The doctor spoke to the superhero, before he looked towards Morse.

“The doctor said that he understands that you’re nervous, and that it’s going to be okay. This is a procedure he does over fifty times a day. You’re going to be in good hands.”

“Ah… thanks, sir,” Morse nodded to the fruit headed-shaped doctor, who smiled and nodded before Nova continued.

“He also would like for you to comply in turning off any electronic or holographic devices you may have. That way it doesn’t cause alarm to any of the medical staff who are going to work on you.”

“So, my cell phone off. Okay…”

As Morse fiddled in his pocket for his phone and located the power button, he sent up a little prayer to God to see him through this. as well as missing his mother and both his fathers tremendously. When they entered into his mind, that actually had reminded him of a request he wanted to ask. Glancing up at them once his phone vibrated to signalize it was off, the boy ran a hand through his beard.

“so... don’t mean to come off as demanding, but is there a chance I could request something?”

“Oh? What’s up?” Nova asked, both he and the doctor slightly leaning forward a bit with raised eyebrows to his words.

“Could it be possible for Nova to stay in the room while this goes down?” he said, biting the inside of his lip in hopeful assurance.

The two in front of him seemed rather stunned of an adult asking for someone to stay in the room. But once the two looked at each other, the doctor spoke a sentence and gave a smile to Morse before turning around and assisting some of the nurses in setting the rest of it up. The superhero looked towards Morse and walked closer. That way, anything private could be kept between them.

“He said that it was okay if you need me here,” the hero folded his arms, raising an eyebrow, “I’m assuming your fear is getting worse right now…”

“Yeah, and considering I don’t have some kind of over-the-counter miracle pill to help me…” he trailed off, rubbing at his eyes, “Look, I’m really sorry, man. I barfed in your ship’s bathroom, almost got you in trouble with the boss lady, and now this-”

Nova cut him off with a shake of his head, “No, don’t worry about it. I take it that you’ve had a family member with you in surgery before; that’s why you asked?”

Morse began to rock back and forth on his feet a bit while looking at the ground, “Yeah. Not that dad you met back at my house, but my biological dad was with me for one surgery I’ve had before. And my mom was there for the other. And every doctor visit I’ve had, someone’s been with me… I just work myself into a panic if I’m by myself…”

“Well, hey, don’t worry about it. I may not be as supportive as your parents, but I’ll sit nearby. Just in case you need anything or you start to freak out. Sound like a plan?” Nova nodded and patted him on the back.

“Sure thing… I really could go for a soda at the moment,” Morse sighed through his nose.

“I’ll grab you one before we head back up, all right?” the hero promised, getting a relieved look on his face.

About that same time, the doctor came back with the nurses and-

Oh, gawd, they have the tools on a small table with wheels and an IV looking bag-

Shit, it’s already time, isn’t it?

“Okay, looks like they’re ready,” Nova said, giving him one more comforting pat on the back before grabbing the extra chair in the room and sitting nearby, “Just do your best to relax and it’ll all be over soon. After all, you’ll be able to walk out of here once the surgery’s finished, so don’t get too worked up over it.”

Morse didn’t seem to be so at peace at his words. In fact, can anyone be? It was like the table that was there could be heard laughing at how he was screaming internally about being cut open by a fruit man. He literally made the slowest movements he could without tipping anyone off with exaggeratedly snail-like speed, and slowly began to put a knee up to the table.

“Right… got it-”

Before he could, both of the doctors and a nurse motioned for him to stop with alarmed faces. Not scared, but like he was forgetting something. The mind was racing dramatically as to what on earth was going to stall the process. Watching the head doctor look over to Nova and start speaking while pointing a finger to him had caused him to tilt his head.

“Oh, of course,” he said, looking up at him, “Sorry, Morse, but I forgot to mention. You’re going to want to take off your hoodie and whatever clothing on your top half that you don’t want to get ruined.”

...Well, crap. It’s bad enough he has to have a medical procedure, but now he has to take off his favorite hoodie?

“What do you mean, _‘get ruined’_?”

“Well, I mean… unless you want your hoodie to get possibly stained with your blood, it’s best to remove clothing around the neck area. I’m not saying you’re going to bleed profusely,” Nova began explaining, but quickly added to prevent the already cautious young man into a further state of alarmed awareness, “but it’ll be easier for the doctors and their nurses to be able to do it properly and quickly if they don’t have to worry about anything you’re wearing getting in the way.”

“Nah, this is my favorite hoodie, and my mom’s already tried to throw this out. I don’t need it getting more stained and worn out than it already is,” he said, nodding as he began to work on the zipper, “Though, I’m okay with my t-shirt underneath getting ruined, so I’ll be keeping it on.”

“You sure?”

“Meh… Not comfortable with how my body looks. I mean, not really a huge deal, but I’m not exactly going to go around taking it off and parading myself on how much of a ‘handsome bloke’ I am,” Morse chuckled, taking off the purple hoodie to reveal the somewhat grey short-sleeve shirt that had the message ‘If you can read the message, you’re too close to me’ with tiny letters.

Considering how much of an ugly bas-

While the hero explained that to the staff that the young scientist wished to at least keep the undershirt he wore under his main outfit on, Morse quietly walked beside him and without care about how dirty the article of clothing would get, placed it into a neat pile on the floor near the chair. And that only caused the nervousness in his chest to take center stage in his mind’s attention while turning around to once again look at the medical bed. Shaking his head, he decided to just get this over with.

Screw the imaginary table laughing at him.

With a huff and a bit of work to not tear the fragile excuse of a paper they laid on it, Morse carefully managed to lay face-first down on the bed. His hands decided to lay near his sides. Despite how even worse it seemed to make the situation, for at least having his hands near his chest and face would give some slight relief, the medical staff probably would prefer them to stay far away from the neck as possible. It took a few moments for him to feel a gloved hand that… slightly felt scaly behind the latex-feeling protection feel around for his hand. Unable to look, his mind was able to fill in the dots that was needed to complete the puzzle of what was happening. They were located a vein in his arm for them to put the iv in, so he would be able to fall asleep. And wouldn’t you know it? He was right, with that small cotton swab feeling item brushing a cool liquid, probably a disinfectant, all around a certain part located somewhere in the middle between the elbow and wrist, and a rather tiny, but painful prick with it being connected to him.

All right… here we go.

He could now feel the nervousness turn to dread and bubble up to his face while his eyes closed and he licked his lips. He couldn’t imagine seeing himself having some kind of weird metal device attached to his skeleton beneath everything else inside of his body. But, if this was necessary, he’d ignore the multiple gloved fingers now making their way around his neck, feeling around the shoulders, moving the collar of his shirt a tiny bit, and then finally adding the disinfectant once again to his skin. He was glad that not only was the space for his face enough for him to keep his hat and headband on, but that no one could see him clamp his eyes shut even tighter.

And from there, it was playing the awful waiting game, which seemed to take forever. He wouldn’t lie, it was starting to become unbearable and ridiculous at this point to how long they he was waiting for them to start once the disinfectant had been applied and all hands let go of him. So, at first, he began to replay one of the trials to his favorite video games, Danganronpa, in his head. The very first one was the only one with his favorite character Leon in it, so he just replayed it in his head.

But by the time he got to the part where he remembered Leon himself saying that the murder weapon was a kitchen knife and yet where did that get the group in solving the case, he realized that at that point, it was around the fifteen minute mark of the trial. Now, the gears started turning to realize something was off. During the whole time of focusing on this in his head, he hadn’t felt any kind of pain in his neck from what was supposed to happen to him. Hell, now that he started to think about it, had anybody even touched him after cleaning the area they’d cut into? And why was nobody making any sound or anything?

Confused, but risking possibly the medical staff getting angry at him, Morse slowly began to stir and move his arms to push off the table.

“Ah, hey. So you’re finally awake, huh?”

Morse’s head arose out of the opening of the table and towards Nova, who had his arms folded and smiled at him.

“That would be assuming that I even fell unconscious,” he said, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, you did,” Nova nodded, “They just finished the surgery on you and the drug they used to put you out wore off.”

“...Wait, what? But… I’ve been awake this whole time,” Morse did a double-take, only raising an eyebrow as his sign of surprise, “I didn’t even feel anything.”

“That’s because the drug we use is a very powerful chemical that affects the mind.”

The sudden new voice in English had caused the boy to look around the room for the sudden newcomer with his complete mastery of the terran language. When he noticed the grape-head doctor looking at him with a smile, he blinked in realization. Wait, was the doctor…?

“And judging by that expression,” he said, speaking to him and walking forward, “I’m assuming the translator is already working and you can understand me in your language.”

“....Now that is cool,” Morse said, nodding with a smile which caused the doctor and Nova to chuckle, while sitting up, “Then… Nova’s really telling me the truth? It’s done?”

“Yes it is, young man. Though, you will want to keep the bandage we placed on your neck for a while longer. Despite how we were able to seal your wound closed, it’ll hurt without something covering it for a while,” the doctor nodded, picking up this purple clipboard and grabbing a writing utensil that looked like a pen to start jotting stuff down.

...Come again?

The boy’s mouth turned into a slight, skeptical frown as he reached a hand behind his head to feel lightly. Sure enough, it was a small, white medical tissue and cloth-like bandage that covered right where the neck would connect to the shoulders, with skin-safe tape holding it down. He let his fingertips be very gentle in touching around it, for pain wasn’t the most desired feeling he wanted by pressing down too hard.

Seemingly expecting the young scientist’s reaction, the doctor continued, “The bandage contains an extremely high dosage of pain medication. That’s why you probably don’t feel any discomfort; in fact, most patients don’t, even after a few days of taking the bandage off. I will say to be careful when putting on that other article of clothing on, especially when it comes to the collar part. Tightening or putting pressure around the neck may cause some pain to come.”

Morse nodded as he watched Nova hand him his hoodie. He took a few pats to the fabric to remove some of the dirt from the floor on it while looking back at the doctor with a smile.

“Well, color me curious, doc. How did I end up unconscious? I was distracting myself with this story I know and I swear to God that I was awake the entire time…”

The doctor smiled and looked up, “As I stated before, the drug we use is a very powerful chemical that affects the mind. It’s called Emphalizotizimine. A rather tricky name to pronounce, but it works wonders. It relaxes your brain to the same state as falling asleep. It tricks the person into thinking that they’re awake, when it actuality, it has them fall into a deep sleep.”

“...So… it’s like it forces the person into a brief coma, but jumpstarts their mind to resume what they were thinking about so quickly, that they can’t tell when they fell unconscious,” Morse raised an eyebrow, trying to think out loud to understand it.

He was given a congratulatory nod and smile to allow him the knowledge of knowing he was right.

“Exactly. I wouldn’t be able to tell you when you feel unconscious when thinking of the story you mentioned distracting yourself with; for all we know, you could’ve fallen unconscious at the beginning and have been lying on a table for a period of time thinking we hadn’t finished, or you just woke up when you moved off the table,” the doctor explained, putting down his clipboard to face him, “Every species has a different reaction to the drug, but I’m glad that you showed no negative signs to it when we used it on you.”

“Yeah, because I was about to say something about that… I’m not even dizzy or out of it,” Morse said, adjusting his hat while keeping the hoodie in his arms.

That’s when Nova stood up, grabbing their attention.

“Yeah, I was amazed myself as well when I first was put under the drug. Apparently, it doesn’t really give any side effects to warm-blooded species like us,” he said, earning a nod from the medical professional, “I had to get one when I first became part of the Corps, which is a long story and would take too much time.”

“But still, it was a lot of pressure in giving you that drug and worrying for us if you’d get hurt from it,” the doctor admitted, laughing slightly as he rubbed the back of his neck, “You may not be the first Terran that the offices have done surgery on, but you were my first. And that’s a lot of pressure, believe it or not!”

Well, that’s just nice… the medical professional was scared of making a mistake on him during a surgery. If he had known that prior, he probably would’ve begun to panic and also make the doctor freak out too... ...Hm? Terran?

It’s then that one of the nurses decided to make herself known to the group and excitedly walked over. She looked like a terran, but had cat-like eyes and yellow skin with black hair. She extended a hand out to shake his, which after a brief pause, Morse obliged to.

“And may I just say how exciting it’ll be to tell my parents I met a Terran today? It’s such an honor!” she happily said, both finishing the hand shake.

...Wait, what the heck is a _Terran_ …?

...Oh well, probably not worth the effort in asking. Roll with it, Morse.

“...Heh, it’s nice to meet you as well, miss,” Morse replied, smiling at her when she grinned, absolutely besides herself about how ‘cool’ it was meeting him.

Nothing cool about this jac-

Once he finished, he began to swing the hoodie over his body and put his arms through the sleeves. Accidentally, he made the collar brush against the bandage, which sent a sharp pain through his neck. He repressed a wince and thanked his ability of keeping his expression consistent, for nobody seemed to notice it when he finished putting on the hoodie and zipping it up. Not even the other nurse in the room as she, the other two nurses, and other doctor walked over.

“She’s absolutely right, you know. You don’t often see a lot of Terrans on this side of the galaxy,” the woman said, a female version of the head doctor but with her skin color a bit of a darker shade of purple, “Considering it’s illegal to go even near their home planet, it’s like a rare kind of honor to meet one in person.”

“Though, it’s sometimes really hard to tell them apart from Xandarians, isn’t it?” the first nurse said, folding her arms with a nod.

...All right, seriously; what the heck is a Terran and why are these aliens confusing him with one…?

Before the confusion could be brought up to question, it was Nova calling his attention to look at him. In his hands was a blue can of Pepsi, still ready to be opened and enjoyed. Morse didn’t catch the interested looks of said object he was holding by all the medical staff there. Instead, he slowly let his vintage smile take over as he reached over and took the beverage.

Ah, hell yeah! It was cold!

Good shit.

“Sorry to technically bail on you when you asked me to stay, but I had gotten the notification that the Corps members that welcomed us on the landing pad had finished setting your things in your space. I went there and managed to get one of the beverages from the twelve packs. Since you didn’t tell me any specific flavor, I grabbed at the first one I saw,” he said, nodding.

The big guy shrugged with a chuckle.

“That’s fine, man. Besides, I was feeling a regular Pepsi anyways,” he said, keeping it in his pocket for now with his phone… and then realizing the medical staff were glancing at what he had in his hand, blinking in confusion at their faces.

“A-Ah! Sorry for staring; it’s just… we’ve never seen that kind of… beverage before? That is a beverage, right?” The first nurse said, looking a bit closer.

“You said it was called… ‘Pepsi’, right?” the second nurse raised an eyebrow, “Is it some kind of an alcoholic beverage? Because those are prohibited within the Headquarters.”

“No, it’s not… but if it was, I’d get drunk off it from how much I have,” Morse snickered, holding the can slightly out for them to see it, “It’s a carbonated sugar beverage that my species can drink back on my home planet. It’s called soda, or pop depending on certain locations. It comes in tons of different flavors. This is one of the main cola brands, Pepsi.”

Apparently, aliens don’t drink soda. For what Morse was looking at was almost like a bunch of neanderthals (of course, not meaning to refer to them as stupid) staring at a cell phone and having their entire world nearly implode. Does this mean that even with such an amazing world with technological advances leaps ahead of anything humanity had back home and with so many different alien species existing, no one ever thought of making soda a creation out in the galaxy? Welp, maybe it was a good thing for him to buy all of those twelve packs, bottles, and two liters. He sure as hell wasn’t going for God knows how long here on this planet without a supply of them.

“As much as I know you’d like to hear more about the things from his world, folks, we need to get our young scientist here back to Nova Prime. He needs to know why he’s been brought off of his home planet in the first place, anyways,” Nova called out, patting the human’s shoulder to get him to look over.

“Oh, of course. Our apologies for getting caught up on it,” the head doctor nodded, with the staff going back to cleaning the room from the surgery and anything else related to it being finished.

He extended his purple hand to Morse, who smiled and shook it.

“Thank you for doing the procedure, sir,” he gave a nod to him, “Sorry, I don’t know your name still.”

“It’s Dr. Roha Abbuoto,” the man said, giving him a smile, “It was my pleasure to help. Hopefully, we can meet again, but not here. I don’t like seeing individuals in medical places more than once; I like to see them being healthy and not needing help.”

The boy smirked in a nod, and bidding one last adieu to the medical team responsible for allowing him to now brag about having a metal translator on his spine, made his way towards the door, following his superhero guide to the elevator. With the door shutting behind them and making a bit of a distance, a certain interest for info had resurfaced into his mind, which prompted Morse to look at Nova.

“So… what’s a ‘Terran’ and why were the nurses confusing me with one?” his grip on the can never faltered, but he decided to pull it out of his hoodie pocket.

“That’s because they’re not confusing you with a Terran. You are, in fact, a Terran,” Nova explained, pointing his index finger up as he spoke to signal to the other male to wait a second and that an explanation would surely come, “We do refer to ourselves as Humans back at home, but to other aliens species, our race is actually called Terrans, which come not from the planet Earth, but from Terra. They are referring to you correctly.”

...Seriously? So, _Terrans_ are what _Humans_ are supposed to be called? That’s…

“Ahh… okay,” Morse shrugged his shoulders as he fiddled with the can’s tab on top to open it with a slightly loud noise, “I mean, that’s gonna be really hard to get used to. You know, since the actual ‘Terran’ species don’t refer to themselves that way…”

“I know, it threw me for a loop too when I first got here,” Nova laughed as both men entered the elevator, “You’ll get used to it, though. Anyways, we’re going to get you back to Nova Prime, so she can brief you on what she wants to hire you for.”

“Right. Back to the war room we go, then.”

“No, actually… we’re going to go to the second floor,” Nova shook his head, surprising the big guy on being corrected, “That’s where Nova Prime is waiting for us.”

“Oh…. okay then.”

And taking a swig of the can, the elevator glass door shut, allowing the two to end up going down further.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

“Groot! I swear to Glotark if you don’t turn that video game off, I’m gonna smash it to pieces the second I can snatch it out of your hands!!”

The sudden roar coming from Rocket caused the majority of the Guardians walking up towards the Nova Headquarters to turn around and see the shortest member jab a sharp finger at the teenage tree carrying the handheld game.

It had been one hell of a day. Following the arm wrestling rematch, which unfortunately to some of the Guardians’ dismay Drax had won and reclaimed the honor of his ‘glorious arm muscles’, their ship’s call system once again lit up, signalizing that it was from Nova Prime again. All having a bit of a collective groan (minus the girls really), the leader of the Nova Corps called them to let them know an important detail. The scientist had arrived! And due to that, their presence was requested as soon as possible to their headquarters. But because of that, they would have to pull the moody Groot out of his room, since he would need to be at this place. And yet… as all parents will know, a teenager will become one of the most miserable people around if they’re forced into doing something that’s not on their priority list.

As such, that noisy contraption of a video game came with him in his hands as they made their way up.

The tree’s face formed a deep angry scowl that clearly showed he wasn’t going to be obedient anytime soon. In secret, he just muted the sounds and continued to play. In order to shield himself from being seen, he purposely moved behind Drax. Essentially, he created a meat shield. Meanwhile, speaking of Drax, the warrior was happily content. He wasn’t smiling, but he had the kind of face a person would have when they were nearly on the verge of breaking a massive grin out on their face. It wasn’t exactly the qualities of a “shit-eating” one, nor was it the result of trying to hide said grin. It was just… there.

“Clearly someone is in a good mood due to recent events…” Gamora said, raising an eyebrow with a smile to him.

“Indeed. My redemption in reclaiming my title as the bar’s arm wrestling champion has lifted my spirits tremendously,” the destroyer admitted, looking towards her and her sister, “And yet, that is not taking away from your sister’s admirable strength. She was a difficult obstacle to break through.”

Nebula nodded… and then folded her arms, while keeping her gaze straight.

“I hope you realize that even I may declare a rematch in the future, and that you better prepare yourself for defeat again,” she said cooly, walking up to the building alongside the group.

This earned a roaring laughter of approval from Drax as well as a smirk coming from Gamora.

Meanwhile on the opposite side of the group, Mantis couldn’t help but direct her eyes to the very top of the approaching Nova HQ. Her actions nearly mimicked that of a small child when she let out a tiny ‘ooh’, catching the attention of the Guardians near her.

“This building is so tall… I’ve never seen one that goes as high as this one,” she said with an innocent, excited smile growing on her face.

“Really? Even with that jackass of a planet takin’ you to different places to search fer Quill, ya never seen a building like that?” Yondu said, raising an eyebrow, but his tone staying honestly curious.

Mantis shook her head when looking to him.

“Oh, not at all. Eg… that man… would only take rarely ever let me leave the planet,” she admitted, looking down to the ground briefly before looking back at the building with a smile, “But when I did, it was rarely with anything so massive and would make me feel small by looking at it.”

“And imagine; this is just th’ Nova buildin’. There’s tons more places fer ya t’ see,” Kraglin said, giving her an gentle pat on the shoulder, he and Yondu allowing smiles to cover their faces at the even more child-like anticipation she had in her face while walking with them again.

You know, sometimes? It was the simple things like this that Quill loved about the team. It wasn’t always perfect, but there were these rare team moments that made them come off as a family. And he loved seeing Yondu and Kraglin associate with other people, Nebula opening up, and Gamora smiling. He couldn’t help but feel a slight bit of excitement.

And yet, it also was relief as he walked towards the building that was the source of a lot of problems back in his old days of a Ravager. These guys had arrested him and made fun of his name, but in a way… they ended up getting him to bond closer with the starting members of the Guardians with that prison break years ago. But even after saving Xandar and the galaxy twice, it was still unnerving that he was walking eight of the galaxy’s dangerous and badass former criminals into the building. Also annoying when they had to wait for clearance because YES: Yondu and Kraglin, despite formerly being Ravagers, and Nebula, who assisted in the Battle of Xandar years ago, were now part of the team! Oi, these guys… He understood, but really now…

It was after a good twenty minutes that the nine were able to get inside and make their way to the second floor. Apparently, someone get to the elevator way before they could get inside, so the stairs were the current gripe of the moment. But once they had arrived, Quill’s eyes once again took him back to memory lane.

The large spacious room with a few holographic tables, the windows showing the majority of the city outside, the outside area that had beautiful scenery outside and that people could have a smoke, and multiple people in blue suits walking around or doing stuff at said tables… this was the place that they met Nova Prime in after Ronan’s death and their crimes were in the process of being pardoned and wiped from their permanent records. This was also the place where Drax learned the Kree was just a puppet for Gamora and Nebula’s “father”, Thanos, and directed his desire for blood to him, as well as learning as Star-Lord himself learning that he was only half Terran and that soon to be known as a bastard of a father was still unknown to him. He couldn’t help but look around the room a bit, considering that Nova Prime wasn’t here yet. And with that, he and the team stood, sticking out like a paint dribble on a white sheet of paper.

That was until Rocket and Gamora caught Groot still playing with the games and went over to lecture him.

Rolling his eyes at the teen’s rebellious attitude, they landed on the elevator coming up and catching the suspects that had taken away the easier route of getting to the room. The first was this dude that looked like a jacked up version of the Nova Corps officers, but with serious muscle enhanced drugs to him or something. Dude looked like you didn’t want to mess with him.

But it was the other one that really seemed to make him squint his vision at him in disbelief. A rather big guy, he had this beard that looked like a noodle was hanging off his chin, sandals, shorts he’d probably wear as a kid back in Missouri… who the heck was that guy? He certainly isn’t with Nova Corps, looking like some guy that just had a nap on the streets-

-Wait a minute…

Is that… no, it…

…...

_...holy shit._

Holy shit!

**HOLY SHIT!!**

That thing in his hands… Is that what he thinks it is?

“....Is… that a Pepsi can?” Quill spoke out loud, his face in utter disbelief.

The loud voice suddenly booming out of their leader caused the entire team to look up from whatever they were doing. Even Rocket, who had climbed up Groot’s shoulders and was currently fighting the Flora Colossus for control of the device that was supposed to be off already, and Groot, who never looked up for the game for one instant, had frozen in place with looks of confusion matching the other six Guardians. And of course, Nova and Morse ended up looking over, only being able to take two steps out of the elevator before his voice had caught their attention.

He stared at the can in the man’s hand for several seconds long to realize that yeah, it was! It looked a bit updated with a new kind of look, but holy crap, that was a Pepsi can, wasn’t it?

Even more confirmed was it to him when the young man holding it smiled to him and raised it up before taking a sip.

“Yeah, it is. Good drink, right?” his cheerful voice said and giving him a small nod and smile, before looking over to Nova and saying, “Hey, just gonna look around the room for a bit, okay?”

Ignoring the nod that the muscle guy gave him and keeping his eyes staring at the figure just taking a gander around the room, Quill was left standing with his mouth ajar with the only thing moving being his head whenever that guy moved. It was only until someone spoke to him did he close his mouth.

“Friend Quill, it is most unwise to keep your mouth open in a large fashion. Otherwise, large insects shall fly into it and cause you to swallow them,” Drax advised, folding his arms to give his leader crucial advice, but seemingly being unable to see the several looks the others gave him.

“He has a Pepsi can.”

The group glanced over back to the Terran, now seeing his right hand point towards the person in purple.

Gamora raised an eyebrow, “Quill?”

“He has a **Pepsi can** in his hand,” the man repeated, turning his head to look at the group, but with his eyes as wide as they can be.

“Boy, we all heard ya the first time ya said it,” Yondu cocked his head with a scowl, glaring at him.

“No, Yondu; you don’t get it! _ **He has a Pepsi can!**_ ”

“All right, we got it, Star-Munch! We has a can of it in his hand, whatever the hell a _‘Pepsi’_ is!” Rocket jumped off of Groot to snap at Quill, slightly irritated, but not as bad as he could be, “You don’t gotta say it over and over like a-”

“A Pepsi is a beverage I had as a kid back on my home planet before Yondu kidnapped me!” Quill cut him off, jabbing a finger at the young man holding it.

From that statement alone, already the entire Guardians team realized what he was trying to say. If this was beverage that Peter Quill had back on his home planet of Terra… then why did someone else have one? Almost amazingly a huge coincidence, all of the Guardians turned their heads towards him, trying to get a better look of the person once again taking a sip out of it.

“See, you get it _now_ , right? No place in the galaxy besides my home planet knows what soda is,” the leader continued, “Only **Terrans** would be able to have a Pepsi or know what it is!”

“But, then… if that’s the case, does that mean… that person is a Terran like you, Quill?” Mantis asked, her eyes intently analyzing what she could of the far off young man.

“That’s right.”

The group looked up to see Nova walk up to them; he was glancing at Morse for a while, but then looked towards them.

“In fact, I was the one who brought him from Terra to Xandar. He just got out of surgery for the universal translator,” he stated, nodding to them, “Also, good to see you, Guardians of the Galaxy. Nova Prime is going to be down here in just a little while.”

The mixed reactions to his words almost bordered on the level of comical. On one hand, the group was trying to process that there was another Terran, like half of Quill, wandering around near them. On the other hand, they had to act professional… somewhat, so they tried to ignore who they were staring at for a second and talk with the person standing in for Nova Prime until she got here.

Except for Quill, who kept staring at the person who also was from his home planet.

“Very well, but… forgive my interest; why is that… Terran here? He’s not part of the Nova Corps, so why is he in the Nova HQ building? And getting a surgery for the universal translator when he could get it from other places?” Gamora asked, folding her arms.

Nova smiled.

“You were briefed about the job the Nova Corps want to hire you for, right?”

The Guardians nodded.

“The same one about protecting a scientist?”

Once again, a unison nod.

Nova smirked before unintentionally smacking his lips and pointing to Morse.

“That’s him.”

And if Quill didn’t already look blown away before, he and his team certainly were now as they all glanced back at the big guy. To add even more shock to their inability to take this in, a comical burp had escaped out of Morse’s digestive system as he covered his mouth as smoothly as he could with his non beverage-holding arm. What was worse was he didn’t even look mortified that he just belched loudly in a military building with some of the people inside the room giving him looks briefly. He just kept looking at the hologram table he was at with the same lazy look they could make it was on his face while stuffing the free arm back into the pocket of the purple hoodie. Even worse, he took a sip again out of the can that caused him to do that in the first place!

“...You're shitting me,” Rocket cursed out from under his breath as he dragged his small hands down his face.

That dirty clothes wearing, scruffy, big dude who was from Quill’s home planet and currently downing a beverage that made him burp like a brainless moron… was the scientist that Nova Prime was willing to pay them one trillion units to protect?

If Quill wasn’t still processing that the dude was holding a Pepsi can, he’d be laughing hysterically and falling to the floor right about now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And at last, Morse meets... well, not the Guardians team, but at least the Legendary Star-Lord! ....and also breaks him by bringing an item from his past, apparently.
> 
> Hope you guys didn't get too mad by the wait. Apologies; been dealing with a huge respiratory infection for a whole month, but will try to get back into it.
> 
> See you until next time; feel free to leave feedback~


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